CAL expects SARS to reduce profit by half this year

China Airlines Co (華航), the nation's biggest carrier, expects profit to fall by about half this year because the SARS outbreak cut travel demand, the airline said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.

Net income will probably drop to about NT$1.6 billion (US$47 million) from NT$3.12 billion last year, company spokesman Roger Han (韓梁中) said in the statement.

The company expects pretax profit of NT$1.6 billion this year, compared to a pretax profit of NT$2.98 billion last year.

Net income will probably be little changed from pretax earnings this year because of tax rebates received from spending on new planes, Han said.

Last week EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) raised its pretax profit forecast for this year almost nine times to NT$1.07 billion (US$31.4 million) on better-than-expected business performance.

The carrier increased its forecast from NT$121 million, it said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. EVA in June cut its pretax profit forecast for the year by 94 percent to NT$121 million.

The carrier expects its revenue to rise 15 percent to about NT$73 billion (US$2.15 billion) next year because of increased passenger and cargo traffic, the statement said.

Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運), Taiwan's biggest shipper, also raised its pretax profit forecast for the year to NT$3.66 billion (US$108 million) because of better-than-expected operations, it said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

The company earlier predicted a pretax profit of NT$2.06 billion.

Last year, Evergreen Marine had pretax profit of NT$1.32 billion and net income of NT$1.08 billion.

China Airlines shares closed unchanged at NT$15.20. EVA fell NT$0.05 to close at NT$14.45, while Evergreen Marine rose NT$0.5 to NT$30.