During the second quarter, SAS has seen the highest number of passengers since the pandemic started. Meanwhile, work on the necessary transformation plan, SAS FORWARD, continues.
Passengers flying with SAS increased 28% compared to the previous quarter and the flown load factor reached approximately 67%, up 11 percentage points compared with the earlier quarter while capacity increased by 3% compared to the first quarter. The transformation of SAS has to continue to adapt to the new market conditions in order to be able to remain flexible, competitive and financially strong for the long-term future. Earnings before tax ended at negative SEK 1.6 billion, an improvement of SEK 1.0 billion compared with the previous quarter, or a SEK 0.7 billion improvement year-on-year. Ticket sales continue to increase ahead of the summer period and SAS is targeting 80% capacity deployment compared to summer 2019.
Total operating expenses during the quarter ended at SEK 7.8 billion and total operating revenue landed at SEK 7.0 billion for the quarter. Total revenue increased 27% compared to the first quarter, an improvement of approximately SEK 5.1 billion compared with last year, but still 31% below the second quarter in 2019, which was unaffected by COVID-19.
The cash balance at the end of the quarter was SEK 8.5 billion. At end of the first quarter of FY2022 the cash balance was SEK 3.4 billion. Operational cash flow during the quarter amounted to SEK 2.5 billion, compared with SEK -1.4 billion for the same period last year.
In addition to debt conversions, SAS is looking for alternatives to raise new equity. SAS will seek to raise not less than SEK 9.5 billion in equity capital. The planned SEK 9.5 billion or more equity raise is expected to provide sufficient liquidity to fund operations through the full implementation of SAS FORWARD and the recovery in passenger demand post COVID-19. It is currently expected that a significant share of such new equity will likely be sought from new investors.
The new equity capital and debt-to-equity conversions contemplated as part of SAS FORWARD will entail substantial dilution to existing shareholders. (£1.00 = SEK12.29 at time of publication).
