=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2004/09/02/f= inancial0803EDT0019.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday, September 2, 2004 (AP) Air France-KLM posts profit for second quarter despite oil price hike (09-02) 05:03 PDT PARIS (AP) -- Air France-KLM reported a profit of 95 million euros ($116 million) in t= he April-June quarter despite higher oil prices as Europe's biggest airline presented combined quarterly results for the first time since the Franco-Dutch merger that created it. The company said Thursday its profit in its fiscal first quarter was more than double the 46 million euros posted by Air France and KLM a year earlier before the merger. The group's results for its April-to-June first quarter included only two months of KLM's earnings as the merger was completed in May. Revenue rose 12.3 percent to 4.46 billion euros ($5.44 billion) from 3.97 billion euros a year earlier on the same basis. The outbreak of war in Iraq, the SARS virus and strikes by French air traffic controllers had hit the carriers' bottom lines in the year-earlier period. Chairman and CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta said profit was boosted by "the immediate implementation of the necessary measures to obtain synergies." Air France-KLM expects savings and revenue enhancements resulting from t= he merger to reach at least 65 million euros by the end of this year and 500 million euros by the fifth year. Passenger traffic, which the group reported last month, rose nearly 17 percent from a year earlier. Air France-KLM said high oil prices were the main drag on its profit. Spending on fuel rose nearly 20 percent to 544 million euros ($663 million). The group maintained its forecast of "strong operating profit growth" in the year to March 2005, assuming that crude remains at about $40 a barrel for the rest of the year. Light crude oil for October delivery was trading above %43 a barrel on Thursday. Air France shares were 0.2 percent higher at 12.77 euros ($15.56) in ear= ly afternoon Paris trading. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2004 AP