Australian regional airline Regional Express (Rex) has announced a profit after tax (PAT) of AUS$9.8 million on a turnover of AUS$163.8 million for the first half of financial year 2019. This represents a 7.7% improvement in PAT and 8.5% improvement in revenue over the previous financial year.
Rex executive chairman Lim Kim Hai said: “This period was particularly difficult with fuel prices skyrocketing and with the sharp slowdown of economic activity from December due to the Sino-US trade war. I am please to report that Rex bucked the worldwide airline trend of steep decline in profitability by turning in a modest 3% improvement in profit before tax.”
“There are too many uncertainties in the Australian global economy for the leadership to provide a specific profit forecast. However, the cash flow of the company has remained strong and we’ve decided to maintain a fully franked interim dividend of four cents per share. We remain committed to a healthy final dividend pay-out for FY19 if the Group turns in an improvement in earnings.”
