Asian money movements hit Lufthansa profit
GERMAN airline Lufthansa yesterday warned that weakness in Asian currencies would weigh on revenue growth at its passenger airline business this year and that a grindingly slow market recovery was set to dent profit at its cargo unit.
Germany’s flag carrier said the weak Japanese yen and Indian rupee in particular weighed on third-quarter revenues at the passenger division, its biggest business.
Lufthansa shares dropped 3.3 per cent, underperforming a flat blue-chip Dax index.
“The Passenger Airline Group is now forecasting for 2013 a revenue on par with previous year,” it said yesterday. The previous forecast had been for a moderate increase in revenue.
Airline passenger profits grew 3.5 per cent to €561m (£481m) in the three months to the end of September, compared with 15.4 per cent growth in the year-earlier quarter.
Europe’s biggest airline also warned that it now expected its cargo business to end 2013 with a result “in the high double-digit million euro range” compared with its previous outlook for operating profit in a three-digit million range.