Profits fall at Virgin Australia

Virgin Australia posted an underlying profit before tax of AU$61 million during the first six months of its fiscal year from AU$96.1 million in the year-ago period. Statutory net profit after tax also fell from AU$51.8 million to AU$23 million. The airline blames the grounding of Qantas and the new carbon tax for the fall. Revenue rose by 5.4% during the period however. Chief executive John Borghetti said: “We have continued to grow our corporate and government revenue and maintained the new norm in which more than 20% of our domestic revenue comes from this higher yielding market.” Virgin Australia