Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

Friday 27 January 2017 BUSINESS
A24

Southwest Airlines profit slips on lower fares, higher costs

DAVID KOENIG Southwest Airlines Co. the November election prices,” he said. an improvement over the
AP Airlines Writer reported Thursday that on an increase in busi- JetBlue, however, reported 2.9 percent decline in the
DALLAS (AP) — Southwest fourth-quarter profit slipped ness travel and higher av- weaker pricing in January, fourth quarter.
Airlines says travel demand partly on higher costs for erage prices for last-minute and its shares fell. The average fare on South-
has picked up and the long fuel and labor. But the re- tickets — similar to recent Southwest sees a pos- west fell more than $5, or 4
decline in average fares sults topped Wall Street comments by Delta and sible end to the two-year percent, to $144.43 in the
could be ending soon. expectations, and inves- United executives. trend of lower average fourth quarter. It was $158
The comments pushed tors focused on CEO Gary “We are encouraged by fares right around the cor- two years ago.
Southwest shares nearly 7 Kelly’s upbeat comments recent revenue trends, ner. It predicted that a key The airlines are trying to
percent higher in midday about pricing power. as well as the prospects measure of revenue per push prices higher by slow-
trading and led a rally in Kelly said that travel de- for continued economic mile will be flat to down 1 ing the growth of new
airline stocks. mand has picked up since growth and moderate fuel percent in the first quarter, flights. q
Pension, scrapping Mexico plant hurt Ford 2016 net profit

TOM KRISHER Wall Street estimates. Ana-
AP Auto Writer lysts polled by FactSet ex-
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — pected 31 cents per share.
Ford Motor Co.’s net in- Quarterly revenue fell 4
come fell nearly 40 percent percent to $38.7 billion, but
last year as a big pension still beat analyst estimates.
adjustment and the cost The fourth-quarter net loss
of scrapping a new plant was Ford’s first quarterly red
in Mexico outweighed an ink since the fourth quarter
otherwise strong perfor- of 2014.
mance. For the year, Ford’s North
The company on Thursday American pretax profit fell
posted $4.6 billion in net by $344 million compared
income, down nearly $2.8 with 2015, when it booked
billion from a year earlier. earnings from increased
But Ford said its pretax prof- production of new heavy-
it for the year hit $10.4 bil- duty pickup trucks and a
lion, the second-best ever, refurbished Ford Fusion se-
while revenue rose slightly dan, Chief Financial Officer
to $151.8 billion. Bob Shanks said. In Europe,
Ford’s 56,000 U.S. hourly the company made a re-
workers will reap the ben- cord $1.2 billion, up $946
efits. They’ll get average A potential customer looks at a 2017 Ford F-250 Lariat FX4 at a Ford dealership, in Hialeah, Fla. million from a year earlier.
profit-sharing checks of Ford Motor Company reported financial results Thursday, Jan. 26, 2017. Its Asia Pacific unit reported
$9,000 based on a pretax (AP Photo/Alan Diaz) a $627 million profit, down
North American profit of lion net loss compared with Ford canceled construc- Trump and has taken no ac- $138 million from a year
just over $9 billion. a $1.9 billion profit a year tion of the Focus plant in tions “since there is no spe- ago.
But with slowing sales ex- ago. the fourth quarter, but still cific policy.” Ford expects Ford’s U.S. sales fell 0.1 per-
pected in the U.S., Ford’s The loss was due largely to intends to make the cars in pro-growth policies and a cent last year as car sales
most lucrative market, and a $3 billion noncash adjust- Mexico at an existing plant. possible corporate tax cut.
big investments in electric ment of pension obligations The company says no jobs “It’s something we’re going dropped and truck and
and autonomous vehicles, and a $200 million charge will be lost due to the move to have to watch closely SUVs rose. Since trucks and
the company said it ex- for halting construction of because the current Focus and respond appropriately SUVs cost more, the com-
pects 2017 profits to be the Mexican factory. That plant near Detroit will build when specific policies are pany said its average retail
strong but lower than last was announced earlier this new a new small pickup formulated,” Shanks said. price per vehicle rose by
year. month amid criticism from and SUV. Contingency For the fourth quarter, Ford $1,400 in the fourth quar-
For the fourth quarter, the President Donald Trump Chief Financial Officer Bob said it lost 20 cents per ter. Shanks said Ford also
Dearborn, Michigan, auto- that Ford was shifting pro- Shanks said the company is share, but excluding spe- benefited from customers
maker posted a $783 mil- duction of the compact still trying to gauge the im- cial items, made a 30-cent buying vehicles with more
Focus to Mexico. pact that President Donald profit. That fell just shy of options. q
J&J to spend $30 billion on Swiss drugmaker Actelion

TOM MURPHY buy Actelion’s seven drugs GlaxoSmithKline, confident nies are often bought for he said.
AP Health Writer that are currently on the in Actelion’s pipeline of their potential as much as The deal comes a little
Johnson & Johnson will buy market and two potential drugs under development, for what they currently pro- more than a month after
Swiss drugmaker Actelion in treatments in late-stage said that a complete com- duce makes sense to indus- J&J said it had ended talks
a $30 billion deal that both testing. pany takeover “would not try analyst Steve Brozak. to buy Actelion, and the
secures promising research Actelion Chairman Jean- allow us to grow those frag- The president of WBB Se- Swiss company had said it
and bolsters the product Pierre Garnier told analysts ile flowers.” curities said the research was in discussions with an-
portfolio controlled by the Thursday that the research J&J will own 16 percent of arms of smaller companies other party.
U.S. health care giant. cultures of big and smaller the new, stand-alone busi- often get bogged down in Actelion, founded in 1997,
Much of Actelion’s re- companies often don’t ness, which will be based bureaucracy from bigger specializes in treatments
search operation will be blend well, and they made in Switzerland, and have companies, and star scien- for pulmonary arterial hy-
spun off into a separate the spin-off a condition of rights to an additional 16 tists will flee. pertension, which is high
company in which J&J will the deal. percent. “Innovation is stifled by blood pressure in the arter-
own a minority stake. The The former CEO of Brit- Structuring such a deal in large entities ... this is the ies between the heart and
U.S. conglomerate will then ish pharmaceutical giant an industry where compa- only way this could work,” lungs.q