Norwegian made a pre-tax profit of NOK 1.248 billion in the second quarter. Despite the record profit, the company was down more than five percent on the Oslo Stock Exchange in the morning hours on Thursday. DN writes that the result was NOK 500 million weaker than what the market experts had expected. – The result is a beautiful painting of reality because there is 2.1 billion in one-off income in the figures. That’s what aviation analyst at Danish Sydbank, Jacob Pedersen, says. – First of all, I think we have delivered a good result, says Norwegian CEO Geir Karlsen. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB – If you correct for that, you have a deficit of NOK 740 billion, he adds. Buys Boeing aircraft Pedersen points out that Norwegian has entered into an agreement with the aircraft manufacturer Boeing, which gives the company NOK 2,099 million. This is due to the problems surrounding the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. They were grounded for over a year and a half after two major accidents. CEO Geir Karlsen of Norwegian says that the company will use the 2.1 billion to buy 50 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. Pandemic and strike – I see a company that is doing many right things, but where you still lack the last evidence that you can start making money, says Jacob Pedersen, head of analysis at Sydbank. Photo: Sydbank Karlsen says that the result was affected by both the last remnants of the pandemic and the flight engineer strike in June. – There have also been a number of problems in general with air traffic in Europe. With airports and luggage problems and a lack of personnel, it is clear that it has had a cost for us, he says. In addition, a very high oil price has hit the company. Aviation analyst Pedersen says that before the corona, fuel expenses accounted for around 30 per cent of income. Fuel now accounts for around 50 per cent. Suggests very good July figures The CEO suggests that the figures for the third quarter will be very good. He says that the company had a record high result in July. The planes were 95 percent full and the prices were high. Partly because the company was helped by the strike in SAS. – We see that August is very good and that people are booking trips for the autumn, so August, September, October look very promising, says Geir Karlsen. – Looking into the third quarter, there are several things that look good for Norwegian. Ticket prices will probably go up even more and there will be more activity, says Jacob Pedersen. – No longer worried – They are now in a situation where, firstly, they have got the traffic up and secondly, they have got money into the system. It is important for them, says Frode Steen, professor at the Norwegian School of Economics Photo: Alf-Jørgen Tyssing Professor at the Norwegian School of Economics Frode Steen says that the important thing is that Norwegian delivers. – They have relatively good seat utilization and they have done quite well in a period where the entire market has done quite well at the airports. I’m not worried about Norwegian anymore, he says. Steen says that what he calls the leisure market is now healthy: – We are back where people travel. We saw that this summer, and it happened faster than we had thought. As for the other important market, the short business trips, it is worse. Many still take the meetings on Teams instead of flying Oslo-Bergen or Oslo-Trondheim. – Strutters of self-confidence Norwegian was on the brink of bankruptcy a couple of years ago. Jacob Pedersen says that it is too early to declare Norwegian healthy. – It is too early to declare a company healthy which in the 2nd quarter, with the Easter holiday and the start of holiday traffic, lost 700 million, he says. Pedersen says that when he looks at Norwegian, he sees a company that is beginning to burst with self-confidence. He believes they will continue to grow and that next year they will probably fly as much on short and medium distances as SAS. – The first proof can be obtained in what is normally the absolute best quarter, namely the third quarter. Those figures will come in November, says Pedersen.
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Billion profit in the second quarter – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
