British Airways plc (BAY)

British Airways plc (BAY) - Stuart Clements at S&P Credit Research

It also lowered the rating on £300m of preference shares, which rank behind the debt, to B from B The outlook for the company was negative, S&P said "Very tough industry conditions have resulted in a weakening of BA's financial risk profile," said S&P of the airline, which disclosed on Friday that losses for the first nine months had widened from £70m to £342m pre tax Mr Walsh expects BA to have bigger pre tax losses in the year to than last time's £401m The airline has £23bn net debts Stuart Clements, S&P credit analyst, said: "The downgrade reflects our view that the very difficult industry conditions in 2009 have resulted in a significant deterioration in the group's financial profile" 

British Airways plc (BAY) - Stuart Clements at S&P Credit Research

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said Monday it lowered British Airways' /quotes/comstock/23s!a:bay ( UK:BAY 19900 , 700 , 340% ) long term corporate credit rating to BB from BB "The downgrade reflects our view that the very difficult industry conditions in 2009 have resulted in a significant deterioration in the group's financial profile, and that recovery to a level which we consider commensurate with a BB rating for BA is unlikely in the near term," said Stuart Clements, S&P's credit analyst The ratings agency also views the potential merger with Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana positively even though the benefits are likely to take time to be apparent The outlook is negative 

British Airways plc (BAY) - Jonathan Wober at Societe Generale

"Those changes, combined with capacity reductions and external spending cuts, mean operating costs are down by 105 percent and show that we've adapted quickly to the new business realities created by the global recession" Shares in BA, which jumped 23 percent in early trade were 10 percent lower at 2189 pence by 1048 GMT, valuing the airline at around 25 billion pounds "BA said the year on year improvement in fourth quarter operating profit is likely to be similar to the third quarter so 76 million pounds better year on year but the focus remains on costs," said Societe Generale analyst Jonathan Wober 

British Airways plc (BAY) - Nicholas Cunningham at Evolution Securities

LONDON, British Airways (BAY) posted a surprise third quarter operating profit, helped by heavy cost cutting, but said it was still in a worse position than last year, despite attempts to adapt to the realities of global recession The British flag carrier on Friday reported an operating profit of 25 million pounds ($39 million) in the three months to the end of December, well ahead of analyst estimates that it would post a loss of loss between 90 and 100 million pounds "The result was a pleasant surprise and is a remarkable turning of the corner," said Evolution analyst Nick Cunningham Employee and fuel costs fell 102% and 22%, respectively, in the third quarter, while engineering and selling costs also dropped significantly, the airline said 

British Airways plc (BAY) - Gert Zonneveld at Panmure Gordon

British Airways Plc reported its first operating profit in five quarters as the UK carrier, facing a potential strike by cabin crew, trimmed employee costs and benefited from falling fuel prices The airline, Europe's third largest, had an operating profit of 25 million pounds ($39 million) in the fiscal third quarter ended Dec 31, it said today in a statement That beat analysts' predictions of a 132 million pound loss on that basis, according to the average of four estimates compiled by Bloomberg "The cost reductions seem to be kicking in quite well," said Gert Zonneveld, a transport analyst at Panmure Gordon 

British Airways plc (BAY) - James Cooke at Panmure Gordon

But Hunter also noted that the airline also has to contend with a potential strike by cabin crew, a pension deficit, fierce competition and volatile fuel costs British Airways is locked in a dispute with cabin crew over issues including wages, job security and working conditions The Unite union has called for a strike vote by members "Today's losses were better than forecasts and we expect our full year forecasts to be adjusted accordingly," said James Cooke, analyst at Panmure Gordon "Year on year comparisons should improve and even though premium revenues are starting to improve, the uncertain economic outlook may slow down the speed of the revenue recovery" 

British Airways plc (BAY) - Goldman Sachs

Goldman analysts said the merger, combined with the potential for a transatlantic tie up with American Airlines, was positive for BA 

British Airways plc (BAY) - Gert Zonneveld at Panmure Gordon

The City expects BA to report a Q3 loss of about £151m this Friday Gert Zonneveld, transport analyst at Panmure Gordon, said there was no obvious read across to BA's results from Ryanair as the pair had such different business models 

British Airways plc (BAY) - Goldman Sachs

Analysts at Goldman Sachs reiterated their positive view on BA and Iberia shares in the wake of the three airline's latest commitments 

British Airways plc (BAY) - Douglas McNeill at Astaire Group

British Airways has registered volunteers for a three week course in serving meals, selling duty free goods and taking charge of passenger safety for the duration of a strike that could cost 20 million pounds ($32 million) a day in lost sales "This should allow them to operate some flights, but whether they can maintain anything like a full service is another matter," said Douglas McNeill, an analyst at Astaire Securities in London with a "buy" rating on BA stock "The question is not how many interim staff they can attract, but how many experienced staff there'll be to lead them" The strike ballot, organized by the Unite union, runs until Feb 25 and a walkout can begin one week after a "yes" vote The Balpa pilot union says it won't seek to stop members deputizing as cabin crew after being "stunned" by an earlier attempt to halt flying for 12 days over the Christmas holiday