AirAsia owner Capital A expects return to profit this year after 2024 loss

Malaysia's Capital A Berhad, owner of budget airline AirAsia, swung to an annual loss in 2024 due mainly to foreign exchange fluctuations, it reported on Friday, but said it expects to return to profit this year. Capital A made an attributable loss of 475.1m ringgit ($106.5m) for 2024, from a profit of 255.3m ringgit in the previous year. The company said the loss was largely due to 1.4b ringgit in one-off forex losses mainly in its aviation business, which also caused the company's fourth-quarter loss to swell to 1.57b ringgit from 345.3m ringgit a year earlier. Capital A was hard hit by pandemic travel restrictions and classified by Malaysia's stock exchange as 'PN17', or financially distressed, in 2022. It is seeking to exit PN17 status. Excluding the impact of the one-time charges, the aviation business benefited in the fourth quarter from an upsurge in domestic and international travel, although that was partly offset by higher marketing costs and user charges. The aviation division expects 19 aircraft currently in storage to be active by the second quarter of the year, Capital A said in a statement. Capital A is in the process of selling its AirAsia aviation business to long-haul unit AirAsia X Bhd, which counts Capital A as one of its top shareholders. The move was announced a year ago to consolidate long and short-haul operations under a single AirAsia brand. The company said it expects to post earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) from continuing operations of between 500m ringgit and 600m ringgit this year. That is a significant turnaround from an EBITDA loss from continuing operations of 663.2m ringgit in fiscal 2024.<br/>