Delta swings a net profit of $55 million for FEB

[General Lee]

CHICAGO, March 29 (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines (DALRQ.PK: Quote, Profile , Research), which plans to exit bankruptcy on April 30, said on Thursday it swung to a profit in February on reorganization-related gains but posted a loss on an operating basis.
The No. 3 U.S. carrier reported a net profit of $55 million in February, compared with a loss of $209 million a year earlier. Excluding reorganization items, Delta lost $43 million in February.
The reorganization-related gains resulted from the company updating previous assumptions about its restructuring, Delta spokeswoman Betsy Talton said. She declined to go into further details.


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Delta said it posted a February operating loss of $5 million. Its operating earnings were weighed by $5 million in losses from fuel hedges.
The carrier said it ended February with $3.7 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, of which $2.7 billion was unrestricted.
On Tuesday, Delta told investors it expects to be profitable this year on cost reductions and higher revenue.
The carrier entered bankruptcy in September 2005, battered by high costs and low-fare competition.
Its current shares will be canceled as part of its restructuring, and new shares are to be issued on the New York Stock Exchange in early May.
(Additional reporting by Chris Reiter)




Thanks for your spin Lowecur.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[FDJ2]

Looks like a good start.

 

[Chest Rockwell]

Good start, yes. Definitely trending in the right direction.They are probably enough carrying losses forward to avoid paying income taxes, as any company in their situation would. The financial press never seems to take that into account.

 

[~~~^~~~]

Good numbers during what is typically a tough month. It would be nice to see a net proft and operating profit after adjustments. I'm never quite sure what to make of these "we made money and we lost money" reports without reading through all the adjustments and assumptions.

Enron was making TONS of money based on their assumptions.

 

[Matt Foley]

Delta makes a profit? This company is worth 10 or 12 billion dollars and ekes out 55 million in profit. How much money did it take to make this? Their profit margin is razor thin and any small bump in the road will upset the apple cart, (higher fuel cost, labor, competition, lower demand).
So “Big D” is on the road to recovery, spring is in the air, and the flowers are blooming. What did you expect them to say? They are after all trying to make another public offering and increase confidence in investors (the same investors that they just stole every penny from in BK). So what’s the plan after emerging from larceny, I mean bankruptcy? My guess is they will……………………Borrow more money and increase debt. They of course will not sell it like that. It will be more like, “A better Delta”, “New aircraft that will increase fuel savings and customer satisfaction”, “Expanding into new markets”, and of course the old standby and my personal favorite, “A new paint job and logo to show the people that we are a different and more caring airline”.
Look, it’s not like I want Delta to fail, but things just don’t look as good as some (Mr. Grinstein) think they are. Management will run this airline like most people run their lives, IN DEBT! You would think that they would get someone in there who could really make a difference, someone with experience at running a successful multi-billion dollar company with a responsible debt-asset ratio, someone who was not already in the airline buddy-pass system. NOT! Airline management will continually get recycled throughout this industry like the blue juice in the lav, it may look and smell ok…..but it’s still SH!T.

 

[Schiphol]

Is this where I have to give my lecture on why debt (leveraging) actually increases the market value of any firm. Airlines included. Delta's D/E ratio isn't hot...but it isn't bad either. Every public company should carry a sensible amount of debt in order to maximize shareholder value.

Its counter-intuitive but true. Just push the I believe button and pray that the brothers and sisters at Delta (and everywhere else for that matter) are prosperous in the coming years.

 

[DrewBlows]

Delta makes a profit? This company is worth 10 or 12 billion dollars and ekes out 55 million in profit.

I think your math is off. If Delta made $55 million every month (February is traditionally slow), they would make $660 million a year. I don't know what kind of revenues they have, but $660 in the first year out of bankruptcy doesn't seem bad to me.


Just found the revenues. $1.25 billion in February equals $15 billion per year, or 4.4% profit. Not great, but not bad, considering it's an extrapolation based on one of the worst months of the year.

 

[General Lee]

Delta makes a profit? This company is worth 10 or 12 billion dollars and ekes out 55 million in profit. How much money did it take to make this? Their profit margin is razor thin and any small bump in the road will upset the apple cart, (higher fuel cost, labor, competition, lower demand).
So “Big D” is on the road to recovery, spring is in the air, and the flowers are blooming. What did you expect them to say? They are after all trying to make another public offering and increase confidence in investors (the same investors that they just stole every penny from in BK). So what’s the plan after emerging from larceny, I mean bankruptcy? My guess is they will……………………Borrow more money and increase debt. They of course will not sell it like that. It will be more like, “A better Delta”, “New aircraft that will increase fuel savings and customer satisfaction”, “Expanding into new markets”, and of course the old standby and my personal favorite, “A new paint job and logo to show the people that we are a different and more caring airline”.
Look, it’s not like I want Delta to fail, but things just don’t look as good as some (Mr. Grinstein) think they are. Management will run this airline like most people run their lives, IN DEBT! You would think that they would get someone in there who could really make a difference, someone with experience at running a successful multi-billion dollar company with a responsible debt-asset ratio, someone who was not already in the airline buddy-pass system. NOT! Airline management will continually get recycled throughout this industry like the blue juice in the lav, it may look and smell ok…..but it’s still SH!T.

Ummmmm, we trimmed our $17.5 billion in debt to around $7.5 billion. And, if we buy planes, you usually have to borrow the money unless you have an extra $3 billion in cash to buy them outright. United left BK will a lot more debt than we have. Our management will also only get 3.2% of the new stock in the company, and NWA's will get 4.9%, while United's got 7-8%. (they wanted 15%) I am not saying these people have changed totally, but some things have. I don't think they will give us a blank check for a raise, but things overall are looking better, and new management is a lot better than what we had.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[737 Pylt]

Delta makes a profit? This company is worth 10 or 12 billion dollars and ekes out 55 million in profit. How much money did it take to make this? Their profit margin is razor thin and any small bump in the road will upset the apple cart, (higher fuel cost, labor, competition, lower demand).
So “Big D” is on the road to recovery, spring is in the air, and the flowers are blooming. What did you expect them to say? They are after all trying to make another public offering and increase confidence in investors (the same investors that they just stole every penny from in BK). So what’s the plan after emerging from larceny, I mean bankruptcy? My guess is they will……………………Borrow more money and increase debt. They of course will not sell it like that. It will be more like, “A better Delta”, “New aircraft that will increase fuel savings and customer satisfaction”, “Expanding into new markets”, and of course the old standby and my personal favorite, “A new paint job and logo to show the people that we are a different and more caring airline”.
Look, it’s not like I want Delta to fail, but things just don’t look as good as some (Mr. Grinstein) think they are. Management will run this airline like most people run their lives, IN DEBT! You would think that they would get someone in there who could really make a difference, someone with experience at running a successful multi-billion dollar company with a responsible debt-asset ratio, someone who was not already in the airline buddy-pass system. NOT! Airline management will continually get recycled throughout this industry like the blue juice in the lav, it may look and smell ok…..but it’s still SH!T.

Join Date: Oct 2006
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Welcome back Chuck/lawman/einstein/400ahole!

737

 

[Matt Foley]

The point is they never made 55 million in February. With enough high paid accountants and lawyers you could show a profit or loss depending on what you are trying to accomplish in the near future. So Delta wants to build confidence in the investors to receive a premium for the upcoming stock offering (reoffering). Wall Street is so gullible; people will throw good money after bad.
Anyway, I know for a fact that Delta will be around and profitable for a long time because Magic 8 Ball says so.