BRITISH Airways yesterday announced record profits and a bumper share out for staff, thanks to continued strong growth in air markets worldwide, but warned that the strength of sterling could hit results in the current year.
"Sterling's current strength will adversely impact profits although it is anticipated that this will at least partially be offset by lower fuel prices and further business efficiency improvement," the chairman, Sir Colin Marshall, said in his results statement.
Pretax profits rose 9.4 per cent to £640 million sterling for the year to March 31st, which BA said was achieved despite a surprise jump in oil prices pushing up the fuel bill by 20 per cent to £842 million.
The final dividend was increased by a penny to 10.8p a share, to take the total payout for the year to 15.05p, up 10.3 per cent, while BA's 58,210 staff are to share £89 million of profits under a bonus scheme.
The formerly state owned airline also announced it was giving every employee 10 shares apiece to celebrate its tenth anniversary in the private sector.
The company also made an exceptional charge of £127 million to cover restructuring costs associated with its "Business Efficiency" programme.
This was offset in the headline result by an exceptional gain of £125 million which BA made by reversing a 50 per cent writeoff made on its investment in former partner US Airways two years ago. BA said it was restoring the value of its original $400 million investment in the airline in preparation for the planned sale of its stake.
The chief executive Mr Robert Ayling declined to say when the sale might go ahead, however.
