Posted at 12:08 p.m., Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Japan Air Lines loses $135M in year ended March 31
Bloomberg News Service
TOKYO — Japan Airlines Corp., Asia's biggest carrier by sales, failed to return to profit in the year ended March 31 as it had forecast, posting a second straight loss after removing deferred tax assets from its balance sheet.Japan Air lost 16.2 billion yen ($135 million) in the 12 months ended March, compared with a 47.2 billion yen loss a year earlier, it said in a preliminary earnings statement today. The airline in February predicted a 3 billion yen full-year profit. Sales rose to 2.3 trillion yen from 2.2 trillion yen.
The Tokyo-based airline sold assets in the quarter in a bid to return to profit. The removal of 44.7 billion yen in deferred tax assets, expected tax refunds that can be booked as capital, contributed to the full-year loss, Japan Air said. The airline has announced it will reduce staff by 8 percent over three years started last month as part of a cost-cutting plan.
"There's no expectation of profit," said Satoru Aoyama, an airlines analyst at Fitch Ratings in Tokyo. "There's no sense of stability."
Operating profit was 22.9 billion yen for the year ended March, compared with a loss of 26.8 billion yen a year earlier, Japan Air said. The company in February forecast operating profit of 13 billion yen for the year.
