By Gabriel Araujo
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian airline Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA on Thursday reported a steep second-quarter net loss mainly due to foreign exchange variations, sending its shares down even as its net revenue more than tripled over the same period of 2021.
The company also provided new forecasts for 2022 to reflect frequent jet fuel price increases and pass-through effects on fares, lowering its outlook for key metrics such as EBITDA margin and load factor but increasing its revenue forecast.
Gol’s quarterly net loss reached 2.85 billion reais ($544 million) versus a profit of 658 million a year earlier, but the company said the bottom line was heavily affected by currency swings.
Shares were down 5.3% at 8.55 reais in morning trade, erasing part of a 10.9% jump the previous day and making them the biggest losers on Brazil’s Bovespa stock index, which was virtually flat.
Gol’s operating net revenue jumped 215.3% to 3.24 billion reais, topping the 3.11 billion expected by analysts polled by Refinitiv.
“The company recorded the highest yield in its history as well as the highest net operating revenue in a second quarter,” the airline said in a securities filing.
Gol also said it expected full-year net revenue to reach about 15.4 billion reais, up from a previous estimate of 13.7 billion, even as its load factor was seen reaching 80% in the period, versus 82% in a previous forecast.
The carrier kept its outlook unchanged for capital expenditure, net financial expenses and net debt/EBITDA ratio in the year, but said EBITDA margin would reach about 8% – down from 10% seen earlier.
Goldman Sachs analysts welcomed Gol’s decision to reduce capacity growth in order to recover profitability.
“We remain Buy rated on Gol but acknowledge (the) short-term outlook remains challenging on the back of higher jet fuel prices, although we believe longer term airlines are able to pass through those higher prices to tariffs,” they said.
($1 = 5.2437 reais)
(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Christian Plumb and David Holmes)
