Speculation grows over SAirGroup’s future
Speculation continues to mount over the future of Switzerland's troubled SAirGroup. Over the weekend, the Swiss press issued its predictions for the group's future, ahead of a news conference scheduled for Monday.
Ever since SAirGroup plunged into crisis just over two months ago, dealers on the Swiss market have been waiting for news of just how bad the situation at the airline really is, and the media has been full of speculation over the company’s future.
On Monday, the group’s newly-appointed chairman and chief executive, Mario Corti, is expected to announce a new strategic focus for the company, as well as reveal a grim set of annual results for 2000.
Corti, the only member of SAirGroup’s management board to survive a mass resignation three weeks ago, may also announce major redundancies.
The Swiss newspaper, “SonntagsBlick,” predicted that it would be the banks, not Mario Corti, who will save the ailing company. According to the paper, a banking consortium, including Credit Suisse, UBS and Deutsche Bank “has agreed to give SAirGroup a chance of survival with a cash injection”.
The paper also speculated that SAirGroup will pull out if its 49.5 per cent stake in the loss-making Belgian airline, Sabena, but added that an announcement of job cuts on Monday was “not to be expected”.
Another newspaper, “SonntagsZeitung”, spelled out SAirGroup’s troubles under the headline “Endangered existence”. According to the paper, Corti is likely to announce a sell-off of the Swissôtel hotel chain and Nuance duty-free shops.
The paper also hinted that further personnel changes at the top of the company may take place: “Beatrice Tschanz, head of communications at SAirGroup, will resign on Monday…But more surprisingly, the head of finance, Georges Schorderet, will stay on with the company.”
“SonntagsZeitung” painted a bleak picture of SAirGroup’s finances stating that the group’s losses are likely to be worse than expected. “Losses will be substantially more than the anticipated SFr2.5 billion,” according to the paper.
Last week, analysts estimated that the group would announce a loss for 2000 of between SFr2.2 and SFr2.7 billion ($1.28-1.57 billion).
On Saturday, the regional paper “Berner Zeitung” said the most pressing question Corti needs to answer is, “How big is the company’s financial hole?”
The paper suggested that one of Corti’s first moves as chairman will be to ditch the SAirGroup brand name. “In letters,” the paper wrote, “Corti already uses the term ‘Swissair-Group.'”
swissinfo with agencies
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.