february half yearly announcement will be key

Been away from this stock for a while since I sold down last year.

This half year is the championship 6 months for VBA, they need to make a significant profit this half year, the "guidance" given at the AGM was not a ringing endorsement. Q1 last year they had the Christchurch earthquake and reservations issue that made that quarter pretty lacklustre, so being ahead of that is a 6 inch putt, especially with the absolute gift that Qantas has served up.

Australian airlines make the majority of their profit in the first half.

For all the talk about game change the real test will be to see if they can drive a revenue premium for all the extra expense. Anyone can spend money on lounges, uniforms etc etc but will punters pay extra for the additional level of service? The 9% increase in revenue they saw last financial year was in line with the increase in ASK's (production) so no premium there. Might be too early to say but if they can't make a healthy profit in this half year I reckon you can forget about a dividend anytime soon.

NPAT for 1H around $60 M and I'll look at buying in again.

GLTA