Pave: Bad News Is Good News

Le jour 449 de Sarko

Same story, different headlines.

AIR FRANCE-KLM PROFIT DROPS 59% ON OIL BILL

LONDON August 5, 2008 (MarketWatch) - Air France-KLM on Tuesday reported a 59% profit decline for its fiscal first quarter, as fuel surcharges weren't nearly enough to counter a sky-high fuel bill.

The last of the major European airlines to report earnings, Air France-KLM said its profit fell to 168 million euros (USD $260 million) from 415 million euros.

Revenue rose 6% to 6.29 billion euros after a passenger traffic rise of 3.7%.

Analysts, on average, were looking for a profit of 145 million euros on revenue of 6.27 billion euros.

In the glum story AF-KLM betters both revenue and profit expectations by almost 16%.

AIR FRANCE PROFIT BEATS FORECASTS

August 6, 2008 (The Age) - Air France-KLM Group, Europe's largest airline, reported first-quarter profit that exceeded analysts' estimates as the carrier sold more business-class tickets and protected itself from record fuel costs with hedging contracts.

... Net income for the three months through June 30 dropped 60% to 168 million euros (USD $260 million), or 54 cents a share, compared with the 152 million-euro median estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

But in the bright story AF-KLM only beats the forecast average by 10.5%, or a 52% fall-off from the glum news report.

Imagine the numbers had AF-KLM serviced all passenger classes.

PFFT (What is this?): Less profit, better results 2½ | Rayonnement français 2½