Kuoni hit by Iraq war and Sars

Kuoni has suffered from the lack of enthusiasm for travel Keystone

The Kuoni travel group has announced a net loss of SFr44.1 million ($31.59 million) in the first half, due to the impact of the Iraq war and the lung virus Sars.

Switzerland’s largest tour operator said in a statement on Tuesday that turnover was down by 16.9 per cent over the comparable period last year to SFr1.378 billion.

However, the net result was better than that of the first half of 2002 when the company made a loss of SFr47.5 million.

Kuoni said that while results for the first two months of the year were a slight improvement on levels in 2002, the outbreak of hostilities in Iraq led to a “sizeable” decline in most markets in March and April.

A moderate recovery in May and June could only partially offset the decline, the statement added.

Kuoni forecast turnover for the whole year to be down by just over ten per cent and a group net profit about half that of 2002 (SFr26.2 million).

The group commented that with the exception of a few positive trends, people were still generally reluctant to travel abroad.

However, it said that providing the rest of the year remained free of exceptional events, it expected a “slight recovery” in the second half of the year.

Schindler’s profit lifts

In other business news, the Swiss elevator and escalator concern Schindler reported that its net profit for the first half was boosted to SFr96 million from SFr21 million last year.

But it said that new orders had slipped by 5.3 per cent to SFr3.82 billion.

Schindler, based at Ebikon near Lucerne, commented that since no recovery of the global economy was in sight in the short term, it expected competition in the elevators and escalators business to intensify in all market regions.

It forecast that barring unforeseeable events, including “massive” exchange rate turbulence, net profit for 2003 would reach SFr200 million.

Unaxis group loss

In another development, the Unaxis technology group reported a net loss of SFr14 million for the first six months from a loss of SFr75 million in the same period last year.

However, the former Oerlikon-Bührle group said operating income rose to SFr1 million after a SFr74 million loss last year.

In its outlook, the company said it expected a positive operating result for the 2003 financial year.

Unaxis, as a supplier of high-tech equipment including data storage and displays for the semiconductor market, also announced on Tuesday that it would fully integrate its ESEC unit into the group.

The company has a 56.8 per cent stake in ESEC, which makes assembly equipment for the semiconductor industry.

swissinfo with agencies

Key facts

The Kuoni travel group made a first-half net loss of SFr44.1 million.

The Schindler elevator and escalator company has reported net profit of SFr96 million for the first six months.

The Unaxis technology group made a net loss of SFr14 million for the January – June period.