State looks at another SAA bailout

South African Airways said it’s waiting for the government to tell it whether it will provide the national carrier with the money needed to keep flying, rendering it unable to publish its results for the year through March.

“SAA cannot finalise its annual financial statements within the prescribed time until the going concern status is confirmed,” the carrier said in a document submitted to lawmakers. To do this SAA would require additional equity or loan guarantees, which the government hasn’t committed to giving, it said.

SAA last made a profit in 2011, and successive plans aimed at turning it around have failed. While Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has said the airline will undergo a “radical restructuring” to ensure its financial and operational sustainability, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s preference is for the airline to be shut down.

Preliminary analysis done by Bain Consulting last year showed SAA will need to cover liabilities of between R35 billion and R48 billion if it is liquidated, while it would only be able to realise R5 billion to R6 billion from selling its assets. The National Treasury will have to settle R15.3 billion in bank debt and creditor guarantees prior to the airline being shut to avoid possible cross-defaults on other Treasury-backed loans, it said.

In October the government said it will repay SAA’s outstanding government-guaranteed debt of R9.2 billion, support that Mboweni said the country couldn’t afford. But the airline said it needs additional working capital to keep operating, including a R2 billion loan facility to enable it to pay November salaries and other creditors.

SAA also revealed that its net loss widened to R5.4 billion for the year through March 2018, from R5.3 billion the year before, as revenue fell 4.5%.

A plan last updated in February forecast that the SAA would lose R5.1 billion in the year through March and R1.9 billion in the current fiscal year. – Bloomberg