Virgin Blue share price

[Montague S]

Originally Posted by Michael Morrison

Interesting that the ACCC Chairman enjoys a complimentary membership to the Qantas Chairmans lounge.

he flies El Al too...

[Michael Morrison]

And your point is?

My point is he is taking free treats from QF whilst making decisions about their main competitor. Hardly ethical.

[D Chan]

The ACCC is consistent in its decision given it knocked back Qantas's proposal 4 years ago.

http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.../itemId/744922

[Anthony T]

Why is there only one ACCC, surely thats a monopoly situation.

[Andrew Ewen]

Does anyone know what proportion of Pacific Blues total lift is dedicated to the TransTasman routes ? I am just wondering whether the ACCC could find themselves inadvertently actually causing the loss of competition/capacity that they fear if DJ decides that re-allocating those resources elsewhere is the only way forward ?

If DJ are losing money on the Tasman and if DJ want a tie-up with NZ badly enough ( both big "ifs" I admit ) then what is to stop them just pulling the plug on their own Tasman routes , reallocating those aircraft to other routes and then re-applying to the ACCC for a tie-up with NZ pointing out that this time round there would be absolutely no overlap/loss of competition?

Let the flaming commence

[Greg McDonald]

Old topic but what the heck....both Qantas and Virgin Aus share price is getting a hammering today. QAN down .08c (5%) and VBA down .025c (10%) as of now. Understandable tho...the whole market is coping a caning today.
Shareholders would definitely not be happy!! I wonder at what point the powers that be at the airlines would start to get worried.

[BradR]

No point getting worried about a drop today when the whole market is moving that way.

It is more concerning when your price is dropping because the market doesn't like your strategy or your underlying business. Both Australian airlines are nearing this point.

Qantas has stopped paying dividends and has shown zero share price growth since it listed. AJ needs to define a cogent strategy on 24/8 or the SELL recommendations will multiply and then the price will fall irrespective of the general market. The directors are supposedly there to protect and grow shareholder wealth so they cannot tolerate the falling share price forever.

Virgin has defined a strategy and the market has tolerated JB incurring losses in the short term as he puts this strategy in place. Should it not show any sign of improving the business' performance within the next 6-12 months, he and the Virgin directors can expect the market to be very harsh on it too.

[Beau Chenery]

I don't think Airlines and Shares mix well together.. regardless of your strategy..

[Bernie P]

Not a bad result...

VIRGIN Australia Holdings says the chase for more business customers is progressing ahead of schedule and has delivered a hefty improvement in first half net profit.

Separately, Virgin has also announced a restructure of its international operations to ensure compliance with the Air Navigation Act, which limits foreign ownership of Australian international airlines to 49 per cent.

Australia's number two carrier today said net profit for the six months to December 31, 2011, came in at $51.8 million, up 118 per cent from $23.8 million in the prior corresponding period.

Virgin Australia chief executive John Borghetti said the airline had made significant progress on diversifying its revenue sources.

Mr Borghetti said 17 per cent of the airline's revenue now came from the corporate and government market, which typically paid higher average fares per passenger, or yields.

This was up from 13 per cent in 2010/11.

"Today's financial results demonstrate that our strategy to reposition the business is having a material impact on the company's financial position ahead of schedule," Mr Borghetti said in a statement.

Virgin said underlying profit before tax - the airline's preferred measure of financial performance - came in at $96.1 million, up 34 per cent from the prior corresponding period.

The result was also above market expectations of $79.7 million, according to a median of four analysts' forecasts gathered by AAP.

Total revenue rose 18 per cent to $2.0 billion.

"While we have continued to see high fuel prices and an uncertain economic environment, the Game Change Program strategy has helped us to improve earnings stability and achieve growth during this half," Mr Borghetti said.

Mr Borghetti said the airline had secured 35 new accounts during the first half, and maintained all of its previous accounts.

Citing the uncertain economic environment, Virgin said it was unable to offer specific earnings guidance for the full year, saying only it expected an improvement in underlying performance in 2011/12, compared with the prior year.

Virgin reported a full year loss of $67.8 million in 2010/11.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/business/virg...#ixzz1n9VNBHOq