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SkyEurope Holding

First quarter 2008: improved cost base, higher revenue

Wien (euro adhoc) -

  ots.CorporateNews transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer is responsible for
  the content of this announcement.
air transport
Reorganisation shows continuing positive effects
- Operating margins in Q1 2008 have improved vs. Q1 2007 despite 
considerable start-up costs due to the reallocation of aircraft 
capacity to Vienna and continued high fuel prices.
Vienna/Bratislava, 29 January, 2008. SkyEurope Holding AG, listed on 
the Vienna Stock Exchange´s Prime Market segment, has published its 
financial results for the 1st quarter of the 2008 financial year (1 
October - 31 December 2007).
New management, positive effects The extensive reorganisation program
implemented by SkyEurope´s new management is focusing on continuous 
cost reductions with a firm commitment to the bottom line. When 
comparing Q1 2008 to Q1 2007 SkyEurope has improved on virtually all 
cost categories.
Q1 2008 reflects SkyEurope´s first two months of operations with the 
new base structure after the reallocation of aircraft capacity from 
Krakow and Budapest to Vienna, Prague and Bratislava and initial 
benefits from this consolidated base network can already been seen. 
Although the number of bases has been reduced, sales increased 
considerably by 32.2% to EUR 53.1m. In addition this new optimised 
base structure allowed SkyEurope to improve the overall aircraft and 
crew utilisation thereby reducing unit costs significantly (15.9% 
reduction in cost per seat).
As the winter quarter by tradition is the weakest in earnings of 
SkyEurope´s financial year, EBITDAR (EUR -6.5m) and EBIT (EUR -14.8m)
in absolute numbers were still in the red. However, cost cutting 
measures and higher efficiency lead to an improvement in the 
corresponding margins. EBITDAR margin: -12.3% (+1.9 pp); EBIT margin:
-28.0% (2.4 pp)
Fuel prices continued their upward trend in Q1, however benefits from
the renewed aircraft fleet were realized which is significantly more 
efficient than the older 737 classics and a weakened US Dollar which 
also partially mitigated the increase in fuel prices. In addition to 
this, significantly lower unit maintenance expenses were incurred as 
a result of our renewed fleet.
Cost per seat decreased significantly by 15.9% from EUR 66.6 in Q1 
2007 to EUR 56.0 in Q1 2008 which was driven primarily by higher 
aircraft and crew utilisation, and reduced flight times. Unit cost 
reductions were also enhanced by a consolidation of SkyEurope´s base 
network from 5 bases to 3; and a decrease in maintenance costs per 
seat. There were also other significant reductions in unit costs 
attributable to a decrease in headcount, whereby management was able 
to reduce staff by 13.8% from 843 in Q1 2007 to 727 to improve staff 
efficiency.
With the winter timetable, SkyEurope now has 6 aircraft based in 
Vienna, its most expensive base which has significantly affected the 
Q1 results in terms of profitability. The decision to place an 
additional capacity in Vienna during the winter period was taken 
after careful consideration and the start-up losses of the Vienna 
base operation are expected to be recovered in the future.  This has 
been the case with our more mature Prague base, which is now 
performing very well despite over 100% growth this quarter.
"We have started by significantly reducing our cost base and are 
pushing our business forward to profitability," says Nick Manoudakis,
Chief Financial Officer and adds, "I see opportunities in all areas. 
We expect revenue improvements to follow the cost improvements in the
summer season."
In thousands of EUR, unaudited
                     31 Dec 2007        31 Dec 2006     Change %
                        3 months        3 months
Financial data
Operating revenue        53,058          40,125         32,2%
EBITDAR                  (6,516)         (5,686)        14,6%
EBITDAR margin           (12,3%)         (14,2%)        +1,9 pp
EBIT                    (14,839)        (12,188)        21,8%
EBIT margin              (28,0%)         (30,4%)        +2,4 pp
Net result              (11,331)        (13,804)        (17,9%)
Net margin               (21,4%)         (34,4%)        +13,0 pp
Equity                  (14,772)         (2,738)        n.m.
Cash and cash equivalents 21,922         11,579         89,3%
Operating data
Average no. of aircraft     14,0            12,1        15,9%
No. aircraft at period end    14              11        27,3%
Passengers               857,953         595,332        44,1%
Aircraft utilisation (BH per day)10:33      9:15        14,1%
ASK (million)              1,098             812        35,2%
RPK (million)                797             620        28,5%
Seats flown            1,212,811         785,810        54,3%
Seat Load factor (Passengers/Seats) 70,7%  75,8%        (5,0 pp)
Revenue per ASK (EURc)      4,83            4,94        (2,2%)
Revenue per seat (EUR)     43,75           51,06        (14,3%)
Yield in EURc (Rev./RPK)    6,66            6,47        2,9%
Average revenue per PAX (EUR) 61,8          67,4        (8,2%)
Cost per ASK (EURc)         6,18           6,44         (4,0%)
Cost per ASK ex fuel (EURc) 4,61           4,92         (6,3%)
Cost per seat (EUR)         56,0           66,6         (15,9%)
Cost per seat ex fuel (EUR) 41,7           50,8         (17,9%)
Sectors                    8,155          5,516         47,8%
Average stage length         908          1,029         (11,7%)
Total staff at period end    727            843         (13,8%)
Staff per aircraft            52             77         (32,3%)
end of announcement                               euro adhoc

Further inquiry note:

SkyEurope Holding AG
Nick Manoudakis, CFO
Tel.:+421 915 782 432
mailto:investor.relations@skyeurope.com

Branche: Air Transport
ISIN: AT0000497003
WKN: A0F5WU
Index: WBI
Börsen: Wiener Börse AG / official market

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