GEORGE TOWN (Aug 20): AirAsia X Bhd shares tumbled 8.33% after losses in its second quarter ended June 30, 2015 (2QFY15) widened by 3.2% to RM132.94 million or 6.1 sen loss per share mainly due to a stronger US dollar exchange rate.

At 10.06am, AirAsia X fell 5.56% or one sen to 17 sen after paring losses at 8.33% or 1.5 sen less when the counter opened amidst active trading where 12,792,800 shares were transacted, giving it a market capitalisation of RM746.67 million.

The poor performance led to mixed calls by brokers who either placed "buy" call based on its turnaround measures and support by lower jet fuel and average fares, "sell" because cost per available seat-kilometre grew ahead than revenue while Public IB Bhd maintained "neutral" pending concrete turnaround signs.

Yesterday, AirAsia X said it recorded a forex loss of RM28 million 2QFY15 compared with a forex gain of RM20 million in 2QFY14 as the ringgit depreciated 13% against the US dollar year-on-year (y-o-y) in 2QFY15 to 3.66 from 3.24 in 2QFY14.

Revenue for 2QFY15 fell 2.8% to RM653.03 million from RM671.61 million in 2QFY14, primarily due to the decrease in scheduled flight revenue of 16% y-o-y and 24% y-o-y for ancillary revenue resulting from lower load factor.

Its revenue per available seat-kilometre (Rask), however, improved 6.7% to 11.51 sen for the current quarter compared with 10.79 sen in 2QFY14.

AirAsia X (fundamental: N/A; valuation: N/A) blamed the lower load factor to a halt in marketing activities, the Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak in South Korea and the massive earthquake in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Despite the poor performance in the second quarter, the airline is unswayed in its turnaround plan with a focus on optimising fleet size and improving yields and loads.

“We’ve seen a return of business in 3QFY15 onwards as forward bookings for the second half of the year are promising.

“We are optimistic in reaching a turnaround this year as we’ve set ourselves the task of getting AirAsia X to a better financial footing,” AirAsia X group chief executive officer Datuk Kamaruddin Meranun said.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)