The pandemic continued to pound sa国际传媒 Ferries in the third quarter of its current fiscal year but the organization鈥檚 finances were salvaged by federal-provincial Safe Restart funds.
sa国际传媒 Ferries鈥� traffic and 颅revenues declined in the final three months of 2020 and that situation is projected to 颅continue in the near term, it said in the latest financial report released on Monday.
The bright spot for the 颅organization was receiving a $308 million lifeline in Restart funding in December.
sa国际传媒 Ferries ended up with positive net earning of $98.4 million in its third quarter, thanks to using $154.8 million in Restart money. That allowed it to outstrip results in the same quarter in 2019 when it recorded a net loss of $8.3 million.
鈥淲ithout this relief, the net loss for the three months ended December 31, 2020 would have been $56.4 million,鈥� sa国际传媒 Ferries said Monday.
Restart funds also buoyed earnings.
sa国际传媒 Ferries had year-to-date earnings of $74.3 million (as of the end of December). Without the Restart money it would have seen a net loss of $80.5 million. For the same months in the previous year, net earnings came in at $98.9 million.
Mark Collins, sa国际传媒 Ferries鈥� president and chief executive, said in a statement: 鈥淭he Safe Restart funding will protect the long term sustainability of the ferry system to recover our losses and maintain service and future investments in ferry dependent 颅communities.鈥�
The pandemic continues to have a significant impact on operations and financial results, sa国际传媒 Ferries said.
In the third quarter, October to December, it carried 2.9 million passengers and 1.6 million vehicles. That reflects a drop of 39.6 per cent and 22.3 per cent, respectively, against the same months in 2019.
Year-to-date, the company carried 10.6 million passengers and 5.3 million vehicles, a drop of 42.1 per cent and 26.9 per cent, respectively, compared to the same period in the prior year.
The impact of COVID-19 led to sa国际传媒 Ferries shaving some of its sailings.
In the final three months of last year, operating expenses dropped by $6.7 million or 3.3 per cent compared to the same months in 2019.
That was largely due to cutting the number of round trips on major routes and deferring some expenses, which resulted in lower labour costs and less fuel consumption.
Capital expenditures in the three- and nine-months ended December 31, 2020 totalled $41.5 million and $90.8 million and were partly paid for by net earnings over the nine months, sa国际传媒 Ferries said.
All capital plans are being reviewed because of the 颅pandemic. The goal is to find ways to defer less critical expenses.
