AirAsia operator Capital A records loss in Q4 as higher costs weigh

The guardian company of Malaysian price range airline AirAsia, Capital A, on Thursday (Feb 29), reported a loss for the final quarter of 2023, reflecting bigger operating and financing charges while logging its first annual procure revenue for the reason that onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Catch loss attributable for the three months ended December got right here in at 159.6 million ringgit (US$33.66 million) in comparison to a revenue of 109.9 million ringgit a one year ago.

Capital A shares ended the day 3.5 per cent lower at 0.69 ringgit apiece.

The corporate is currently preparing to checklist its unit, which is the licensee of the AirAsia brand, on NASDAQ after finalising a US$1.15 billion SPAC merger.

The company, which is currently consolidating its long and short-haul producers beneath one brand, reported a surge in operational charges – mainly airplane gasoline charges – throughout the quarter.

Aviation gasoline price surged to 1.96 billion ringgit from 963.27 million ringgit, while upkeep and overhaul charges extra than tripled to 862.41 million ringgit from 177.90 million ringgit.

Air scurry has been getting dearer in the contemporary previous as costs of jet gasoline had been on the rise, hurting airline firms around the realm.

The corporate, nonetheless, posted a procure revenue of 507.6 million ringgit for the one year ended December, in comparison with a loss of three.3 billion ringgit a one year ago, helped by sustained inquire of of for scurry and linked companies and products.

Capital A has been classified as “PN17” or financially distressed by Malaysia’s inventory change because it used to be hit spirited by scurry restrictions throughout the pandemic.

Brokerage Kenaga Crew stated it is mindful of Capital A’s financially distressed plight, however the corporate has viewed restoration submit-pandemic.

Nonetheless, analysts at Maybank stated they think “extra must be done to uplift PN17 classification”.