Strong euro pushes Finnair into loss

(HELSINKI) - Finnish national carrier Finnair said Tuesday fourth quarter losses worsened as a strong euro hurt it on key Asian routes, but cost cutting measures helped it post an annual profit.

Losses in the fourth quarter swelled to 13.6 million euros ($18.6 million) from 3.5 million euros a year earlier, while revenue for the period shrunk by 8.5 percent to 560.6 million euros.

The airline's more profitable long-haul routes to Asia were impacted by currency effects linked to a strong euro.

"Financially, the final quarter of 2013 did not go according to our plans," chief executive Pekka Vauramo said in a statement.

The company said the "uncertain economic outlook in Europe and Asia" was having a negative effect on demand in some of is main markets, with Finland itself also stuck in recession.

Annual net profit increased slightly however to 10.8 million euros from 10.2 million euros in 2012, while revenue slid 2.40 billion euros from 2.45 billion euros.

Vauramo said the airline made good progress over the year on cutting costs by 200 million euros.

In 2013, the airline had around 5,850 employees, 13 percent less than in 2012.

Finnair said its main goal for 2014 would be to focus on profitability and competitiveness, paying special attention to further cost cutting.

In early afternoon trading, Finnair shares were down by 1.12 percent on the Helsinki stock market, where the overall index was up by 0.87 percent.

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