Hainan Airlines slumps by close to daily limit in Shanghai after it warns of a loss of as much as US$10.06 billion
- Hainan Airlines Holding sheds as much as 9.8 per cent in Shanghai, approaching the daily cap of 10 per cent
- Other HNA Group entities also fall after parent’s bankruptcy restructuring
The Shanghai-listed firm finished the day 9.8 per cent lower at 1.38 yuan, close to the daily cap of 10 per cent.
The largest private airline in China said in an exchange filing on Saturday that its projected loss for 2020 could reach between 58 billion yuan (US$8.98 billion) and 65 billion yuan, more than the combined losses at Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines – the nation’s top three carriers.
Stock filings showed Air China’s loss could be in the region of 13.5 billion yuan to 15.5 billion yuan, while China Eastern Airlines loss for 2020 could range between 9.8 billion yuan and 12.5 billion yuan China Southern Airlines forecast losses of 7.9 billion yuan to 10.9 billion yuan.
Hainan Airlines said that the loss will result in a negative value of net assets and it risks being delisted after the results are released.
Over a quarter of the airline’s loss of some 16.5 billion yuan was because of a slump in the airline’s business caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. China’s air passenger volume has fallen as coronavirus outbreaks flared up in a number of provinces. Passenger volume stood at 44.41 million in November, a decline of 11.7 per cent from 50.32 million in October, according to the most recent data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
“Because important related parties including HNA Group have been asked by creditors to restructure, equity investments, receivables from related parties, financial and aircraft assets held by the company are expected to record losses,” Hainan Airlines said.
Other mainland-listed HNA entities also fell. HNA Technology ended 9.8 per cent lower at 2.29 yuan. HNA Infrastructure Investment declined 0.6 per cent to 7.29 yuan.
HNA Investment Group, however, surged by the daily cap of 10 per cent to 2.51 yuan after it forecast as much as a elevenfold jump in 2020 profit to 374.8 million yuan.