By Anthony O. Goriainoff
TUI AG said Thursday that it swung to a net loss for the third quarter of fiscal 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
For the three months ended June 30, TUI's net loss was 1.42 billion euros ($1.67 billion) compared with a profit of EUR22.8 million for the same period a year earlier, the company said.
Quarterly turnover was EUR71.8 million compared with EUR4.75 billion for the year-earlier period, and consensus of EUR837.8 Million, taken from FactSet and based on four analysts' estimates.
The London-listed, German travel company said underlying loss before interest and taxes --its preferred profit metric, which strips out exceptional and other one-off items--was EUR1.1 billion, and that this reflected a business suspension for most of the quarter, impairments triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, and net costs arising from ineffective hedging contracts.
TUI--which operates hotels, airlines and cruises, along with agencies that sell vacation packages--said dividend payments and share buybacks will be restricted for the term of the EUR1.2 billion stabilization package announced on Wednesday with the German government.
The company said the package will be linked to further limitations regarding investments in other companies and remuneration for board members.
