Macau, China, 03 Aug – Air Macau posted a loss of 72 million patacas (US$9 million) this June, one of the biggest losses since the company began its activity in November 1995.
According to Radio Macau, accumulated losses up until now already reach 330 million patacas (US$41.25 million).
In 2008 Air Macau posted a loss of more than the 109 million patacas (US$13.6 million) posted in 2007, the airline’s chairman Zhao Xiaohang said in March.
In 2005 Air Macau posted a loss of 20 million patacas, which increased to 62 million patacas in 2006.
In 2003, as a result of the SARS epidemic, Air Macau posted a loss of 150 million patacas.
The news comes at a time when Macau’s Court of First Instance (TJB) decided not to consider the temporary injunction brought by Air Macau shareholder SEAP (Serviços, Administração e Participações) to suspend the restructuring of the Macau airline which included an injection of 400 million patacas.
The action by SEAP, which includes TAP – Air Portugal and Macau’s BNU, part of Portuguese banking group Caixa Geral de Depósitos, aimed to declare the inefficiency of the deliberations of Air Macau’s annual shareholders’ meeting on 15th April.
Today’s Ponto Final newspaper writes that the TJB decided that the right to bring the action had already been forfeited when SEAP brought the temporary injunction to stop the effects of the deliberations of Air Macau shareholders.
TAP’s representative at Macau Air, Carlos Pimentel recently said that "with the current state of affairs, to inject cash into the company would be like putting money into a bottomless pit."
Ponto Final today says that Air Macau should launch a new financial restructuring plan, given that the court did not call into question the judicial efficacy of that which was approved in April.
The newspaper said that with the new losses posted the company’s net worth would return to being below half of the capital stock, which would result in the dissolution of the company according to the Commercial Code, unless the share capital was reduced or a new cash injection was made.
Ponto Final also wrote that the efforts previously required of the shareholders to approve an increase in share capital of around 200 million patacas – to which another 200 million patacas loaned by the government would be added – was in itself already enough to avoid the dissolution of the company.
The newspaper concludes that "should the current pace of loss continue, Air Macau would end the year with losses of over a billion patacas.
Air China, through its subsidiary China National Aviation Corporation (Macau) Company Limited, indirectly owns 51 percent of the issued share capital of Air Macau.
Other substantial shareholders in Air Macau, apart from SEAP, include Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau, which owns 14 percent of the share capital of Air Macau.
The Government of Macau SAR owns 5 percent of Air Macau.
(MacauNews)
