SAA's financial statements have not been audited since 2018. Auditing of the 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 financial statements was underway and will be concluded by end of June, said Lamola.
“(I want) to assure the committee that one of the major preoccupations of the management at SAA including that of the board is to ensure that the external audit, which started in August 2022, is concluded.
“As the committee is well aware, this is a unique and complex audit that covers historically four financial years … from April 2019 to March 2022.”
In tandem, SAA has concluded the audit of the 2023 financial statements, which will be considered by the SAA board for presentation to the external auditors, he said.
“We are decisively working on ensuring normality in the cycle of the preparation of annual financial statements and reports is returned at SAA and we believe that by the end of this year we will back to that process,” he said.
The audit has been “very complicated” as it had to also deal with the subsidiaries – SAA technical, Air Chef, and Mango, which is in business rescue – and being in business rescue means it is without the management support team that external auditors would normally depend on.
That is what in the main has been the cause of the delays, said Lamola.
SAA resumed flight activity in September 2021. It was placed under business rescue by its board in December 2019 and exited that process in April 2021.
On the operational level, the company is emerging with a smaller SAA – it used to have about 60 aircrafts, and it is now flying about seven aircrafts, which has created a challenge in terms of the scale of its operating model.
Lamola said the aviation industry has recovered robustly out of the Covid-19 pandemic beyond what was initially projected by experts in the industry.
“As SAA we are challenged with the constricted capacity, we have not been able to exploit this growing market and we haven’t been able to respond to the desire of the shareholder in ensuring that SAA execute its national economic imperatives.”
As part of the broader strategic challenges, the market of SAA has been eroded and captured by its competitors. But in the past financial year it has been able to move from eight destinations to 12, launching new routes and, with the support of the public enterprises and finance ministries, they were able to use three additional aircrafts, which has enabled the “massive” turnaround in its financial performance in the past financial year.
Lamola said they were looking forward to reaching 20 destinations, including one intercontinental destination by end of March 2024.
He said they were also on the market for six aircrafts, to essentially double their fleet. The aircrafts are leased, as the company does not have to purchase its own.
“All indicators are positive that the business is recovering to a level where the shareholder will be able to fulfil the obligation made in the memorandum of understanding with the strategic equity partner that we are delivering a capable airline, an airline that is just waiting to be scaled up.”
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SAA made 'historic' profit in the past financial year - interim CEO
Image: 123RF/Richard van der spuy
The South African Airways (SAA) will show an operating profit when the company’s financial statements are finally made public later this year.
While the company’s interim CEO John Lamola could not give parliament’s public accounts watchdog (Scopa) the exact amount of the profit made in the 2022/2023 financial year, he described it as historic.
Lamola said the company’s draft annual financial statements for the last financial year (2022/2023) would be presented to the board on Tuesday evening before they are submitted to auditors and made public at the end of June.
“What is of excitement for us is that the operational performance of SAA as an airline is positive but it is not in the hundreds and hundreds of millions of rand but is very historic for SAA that for the first time in a long time, we will be able to come to the committee and say we have made a profit,” he said.
“The amount is substantial that even if there are accruals and adjustments that may be engaged in by the auditors, we will still be able to say we have made an operational profit,” said Lamola.
Takatso minorities will remain in SAA deal, says Gidon Novick
SAA's financial statements have not been audited since 2018. Auditing of the 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 financial statements was underway and will be concluded by end of June, said Lamola.
“(I want) to assure the committee that one of the major preoccupations of the management at SAA including that of the board is to ensure that the external audit, which started in August 2022, is concluded.
“As the committee is well aware, this is a unique and complex audit that covers historically four financial years … from April 2019 to March 2022.”
In tandem, SAA has concluded the audit of the 2023 financial statements, which will be considered by the SAA board for presentation to the external auditors, he said.
“We are decisively working on ensuring normality in the cycle of the preparation of annual financial statements and reports is returned at SAA and we believe that by the end of this year we will back to that process,” he said.
The audit has been “very complicated” as it had to also deal with the subsidiaries – SAA technical, Air Chef, and Mango, which is in business rescue – and being in business rescue means it is without the management support team that external auditors would normally depend on.
That is what in the main has been the cause of the delays, said Lamola.
SAA resumed flight activity in September 2021. It was placed under business rescue by its board in December 2019 and exited that process in April 2021.
On the operational level, the company is emerging with a smaller SAA – it used to have about 60 aircrafts, and it is now flying about seven aircrafts, which has created a challenge in terms of the scale of its operating model.
Lamola said the aviation industry has recovered robustly out of the Covid-19 pandemic beyond what was initially projected by experts in the industry.
“As SAA we are challenged with the constricted capacity, we have not been able to exploit this growing market and we haven’t been able to respond to the desire of the shareholder in ensuring that SAA execute its national economic imperatives.”
As part of the broader strategic challenges, the market of SAA has been eroded and captured by its competitors. But in the past financial year it has been able to move from eight destinations to 12, launching new routes and, with the support of the public enterprises and finance ministries, they were able to use three additional aircrafts, which has enabled the “massive” turnaround in its financial performance in the past financial year.
Lamola said they were looking forward to reaching 20 destinations, including one intercontinental destination by end of March 2024.
He said they were also on the market for six aircrafts, to essentially double their fleet. The aircrafts are leased, as the company does not have to purchase its own.
“All indicators are positive that the business is recovering to a level where the shareholder will be able to fulfil the obligation made in the memorandum of understanding with the strategic equity partner that we are delivering a capable airline, an airline that is just waiting to be scaled up.”
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