HELSINKI: Finnish airline Finnair yesterday said it returned to profit in the second quarter owing to a major asset sale, but cut its sales forecast due to currency effects, in particular the fall of the yen.
The carrier registered a net profit of ¤16.9m ($22.4m) in the April-June period, compared to a loss of 18.8 million euros in the same period a year earlier.
It had reported a ¤15.8m loss in the first quarter. Sales in the second quarter rose by three percent to ¤609.7m. The profit was solely the result of Finnair’s sale of its 4.7-percent stake in Norwegian Air Shuttle, which yielded it a net capital gain of ¤34m.
Despite the completion of a restructuring programme launched in 2011, the group’s operating profit shrank in the second quarter, from ¤16.2m to ¤6.1m.
Finnair, meanwhile, lowered its sales forecast for the full year and said it now expects it to be the same as in 2012, instead of the previously anticipated growth. AFP
