Passengers alight from a Kenya Airways flight at Kisumu Airport in October 2011. Kenya Airways (KQ) net profit dropped by 53 per cent to Sh1.66 billion for the year ended March 2012, which the airline attributed to high fuel prices and the European debt crisis. File
Kenya Airways (KQ) net profit dropped by 53 per cent to Sh1.66 billion for the year ended March 2012, which the airline attributed to high fuel prices and the European debt crisis.
KQ's operating costs increased by 44.6 per cent to Sh77.2 billion due to high fuel prices and increase in hedge costs. Higher employee cost due to expanded fleet and more destinations also led to an increase of overhead costs by 14.3 per cent to Sh19.4 billion.
The overall cost of operations outpaced the company’s 26 per cent turnover growth to Sh107 billion in the same period.
Kenya Airways, which is 26 per cent owned by Air France KLM said its passenger numbers grew by 500,000 to 3.6 million as the company launched new destinations to Ndjamena, (Chad) Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) and Jeddah (Saudi Arabia).
KQ said its passenger revenue for the year rose by 26 per cent to Sh95.2 billion from the previous year “largely driven by increased passenger numbers, improved yields and the weak Kenya Shilling.”
Its domestic Kenya total traffic grew by 29.6 per cent as a result of increased capacity and frequencies on Mombasa, Kisumu and full year operations to Malindi.
KQ said it recorded growth in cargo in most regions due to better equipment mix in belly capacity. East Africa however recorded a decline caused by capacity constraints in the region and reduced demand in Kenya.
The airline increased its cargo volumes by 10.8 per cent, and coupled with the weak shillings resulted in an overall revenue growth of 35.1 per cent.
The airline has announced a final dividend of 25 cents per share, down from Sh1.50 in the previous period. Earnings per share reduced to Sh3.58 from 7.65
PAYE Tax Calculator
Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
