Results round-up

International Consolidated Airlines Group posted its group consolidated results for the nine months to 30 September on Friday, with third quarter operating profit €1.21bn before exceptional items, down from €1.25bn a year ago.

The FTSE 100 firm said the net foreign exchange operating profit impact for the quarter was an adverse €162m, while passenger unit revenue was down 13.7% and at constant currency down 5.9%.

Diluted earnings per share were up 18.3% before exceptional items and 23.8% after exceptional items.

The British Airways operator said non-fuel unit costs before exceptional items for the quarter were down 6.9%, and at constant currency up 1.4%.

Fuel unit costs before exceptional items for the quarter were down 25.8%, and down 22.7% at constant currency.

Its operating profit before exceptional items for the nine months stood at €1.92bn, up from €1.81bn or 6.1%.

The net foreign exchange operating profit impact on that was an adverse €372m.

IAG had cash of €6.19bn at period end, up €334m on the 2015 year-end.

Adjusted net debt to EBITDAR improved by 0.1 to 1.8x.

“We're reporting a strong third quarter operating profit before exceptional items,” said chief executive officer Willie Walsh.

“While strong, these results were affected by a tough operating environment with a very significant negative currency impact of €162m, primarily due to sterling weakness, and continued disruption due to air traffic control strikes.”

Walsh said despite that, its unit revenue performance was better than in the second quarter and the company’s quarterly profit after tax was €970m before exceptional items, an improvement of 9.9% on last year.

Northamber’s full year losses widened on higher administration costs as the AIM-listed IT distributor said it was "cautious" post Brexit.

For the year ended 30 June, the loss before tax widened 39% to £1.2m due to an increase in administration costs from recruitment.

Gross profit, however, increased 7% to £4.8m compared to last year, driven by a 7.8% rise in the gross margin “against a challenging industry background”.

Chairman David Phillips said: “Although the forecast post referendum gloom has not yet happened, and hopefully will not be too great if and when it does become reality, the short and medium term future is fraught with uncertainty.

"In view of the history of the last few years I am, to say the least, cautious. We are hopeful that the moves we have made in the profile and structure of the business will continue to develop the more profitable sides of the business and that we shall be in a position to move towards profitability sometime in the not too distant future, although I do not expect to reach that position within the next twelve months.”

The company moved away from lower margin businesses, which led turnover to fall by 5.5% to £61.8m during the period.

The group said it now has three units: wholesale, which provides a wholesale function for IT products; solutions, a consultative approach to new technologies; and retail, which focuses on providing consumer goods to retailers.

Northamber said it will focus heavily on the solutions unit as it increased the gross margin year-on-year, despite investment and recruitment costs.

The retail unit experienced a decline in revenue, albeit with retained margins.

The operating loss widened by 38% to £1.29m, due to recruitment and associated costs.

Cash at the end of September was £5.4m, which was relatively flat from last year, while net assets per share declined to 67.9p per share from 72.7p, but above the average share price in the year.