SAir Group swings into loss, details Nuance 2001 performance

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SAir Group chief executive, Mario Corti, confirmed during a press conference yesterday that the group will sell The Nuance Group and another profitable unit, the ground handling company Swissport. He also plans to shed 1,250 jobs after reporting a first half loss of SFr234m ($130.4m) compared with a SFr3m ($1.7m) profit in the same period in 2000. Management staff worldwide will be cut by 5%, equivalent to 250 by the end of the year. Swissair has projected an injection of SFr1.5bn ($840m) from the combined sale of Swissport and Nuance.

In the accounts for the half year ended 30 June presented at the meeting, The Nuance Group contributed SFr22m ($12.3m) in operating profits to the Group's core operating profit (excluding other airline holdings) of SFr94m (SFr52.4m). In the period Nuance also had sales of SFr843m ($469.6m), representing some 10% of SAir Group sales, and a slight decline on last year.

In 2000 The Nuance Group had total sales of SFr1,839m ($1,025m)* of which almost all (98.4%) was duty-free retail, including inflight and 1.6% was other retail sales, including rail stations and speciality retail.

*Includes consolidated sales of joint ventures