Qantas unveils action plan as shares fall 40% YTD
Shares in Qantas are down more than 40% since the start of the year as the firm announces an action plan to handle the impact of coronavirus.
According to FE Analytics, Qantas shares have fallen 40.1% since the start of 2020 to 9 March and are down 23% over one year. This compared to year to date losses of 11.2% by the ASX 200.
The airline group is held in the top 10 of funds such as Franklin Templeton Australian Equity and Pendal Australian Share.
In an update to shareholders this week, the firm said it had reduced capacity by almost a quarter for the next six months in light of the spread of coronavirus into North America and Europe.
It also triggered cost measure actions such as cancelling annual management bonuses for the full year 2020 and no salary for the group chief executive Alan Joyce and a 30% fee reduction for the Qantas board for the remainder of the full year 2020.
Joyce said: “We expect lower demand to continue for the next several months, so rather than taking a piecemeal approach, we’re cutting capacity out to mid-September. This improves our ability to reduce costs as well as giving more certainty to the market, customers and our people.”
He said Qantas was a ‘strong business’ with $1.9 billion in cash available to it plus $1 billion in undrawn facilities.
“The Qantas Group is a strong business in a challenging environment. We have a robust balance sheet, low debt levels and most of our profit comes from the domestic market. We’re in a good position to ride this out but we need to take steps to maintain this strength.
“It’s hard to predict how long this situation will last, which is why we’re moving now to make sure we remain well positioned. But we know it will pass, and we’ll be well-positioned to take advantage of opportunities when it does.”
Performance of Qantas share price versus ASX 200 year to date
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
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