Cathay Pacific Airways (0293) said it has reached half of its pre-pandemic passenger flight capacity this month and will start to pay preference share dividends this year after posting an operating profit of HK$3.55 billion for the first time since 2019.
The airline plans to pay about HK$1.5 billion worth of preference share dividends it owes the government this year after the fifth deferral, chief executive Ronald Lam Siu-por said yesterday.
Cathay's net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders widened by 17 percent to HK$7.16 billion in 2022 from the previous year.
The loss per ordinary share in 2022 was 111.3 HK cents, with no dividend declared.
The loss was partly due to a deficit from its associate company Air China (0753) which has flagged a preliminary annual loss of 39.1 billion yuan (HK$44.1 billion).
Revenue for the period grew 12 percent to HK$51 billion from a year earlier, missing analysts' HK$52.7 billion average forecast.
Operating profit, however, reached HK$3.55 billion last year, comfortably beating the HK$2.87 billion average estimate from analysts.
Its subsidiary HK Express' net loss narrowed by 31 percent to HK$1.36 billion last year.
Lam noted the group's passenger capacity has reached 50 percent of pre-pandemic levels and reiterated the target of hitting 70 percent pre-pandemic passenger capacity by the end of the year. The airline also announced yesterday that it would operate more flights between Hong Kong and Japan in the summer, 66 percent higher than the current level.
On fuel costs, Cathay saw fuel hedging gains jumped 55.8 percent to HK$3.64 billion last year.
Lam said the hedging policy has been effective in the past two years and the airline will continue to work with suppliers to reduce the impact of rising fuel costs.
Ronald Lam, second from left, and other executives reveal the results. Sing Tao
