(TAN): Qantas has reported AUD 124 million (USD 89.3 million) underlying profit before tax for the 12 months ended June 30, down 91% YoY.
From April to end of June, the group’s revenue fell 82% while cash costs were reduced by 75%, helping to limit the drop in underlying profit before tax in the second half of the 2020 financial year.
At the statutory level, the group reported a AUD 2.7 billion loss before tax mostly due to a AUD 1.4 billion non-cash write down of assets including the A380 fleet and AUD 642 million in one-off redundancy and other costs as part of restructuring the business for recovery.
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Despite significant uncertainty across most markets, the group remains well positioned to take advantage of the eventual return of domestic and, ultimately, international travel demand. Qantas Freight and Qantas Loyalty, meanwhile, continue to generate significant cashflow and charter operations for the resources sector are performing strongly.
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said the second half of FY20 was the toughest set of conditions the national carrier had faced in its 100 years, but that it had the resilience to deal with them.
“The impact of COVID on all airlines is clear. It’s devastating and it will be a question of survival for many. What makes Qantas different is that we entered this crisis with a strong balance sheet and we moved fast to put ourselves in a good position to wait for the recovery, Joyce said. “We’ve had to make some very tough decisions in the past few months to guarantee our future. At least 6,000 of our people will leave the business through no fault of their own, and thousands more will be stood down for a long time.”
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“Recovery will take time and it will be choppy…. COVID is reshaping the competitive landscape and that presents a mix of challenges and opportunities for us. Most airlines will come through this crisis a lot leaner, which means we have to reinvent how we run parts of our business to succeed in a changed market,” he said.
“Looking further ahead, we’re in a good position to ride out this storm and make the most of the recovery. Our market position is set to strengthen as the only Australian airline with a full service and low fares domestic offering as well as long haul international services,” Joyce added.
