Delta Air Lines (DAL), a provider of scheduled air transportation, has recorded a 16.93 percent increase in profit for the quarter ended Jun. 30, 2014, helped by increase in sales and margins.
The company earned $801 million or $0.94 a share in the second-quarter compared with $685 million or $0.80 a share a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings per share came in at $1.04, when analysts expected $1.03.
Revenue during the second-quarter rose 9.42 percent to $10,621 million from $9,707 million in the last year period.
During the quarter, operating income increased to $1,579 million, compared with $914 million in the previous year period. That has resulted in improvement of 545 basis points in operating margins to 14.87 percent.
As on Jun. 30, 2014, the company's cash balance stood at $3362 million, up 13.39 percent or $397 million from Jun. 30, 2013.
"Delta's performance this quarter, with 9 percent top line growth, more than 4 points of margin expansion and $1.5 billion of free cash flow, shows the financial strength and resilience of our company. We expect our September quarter performance will be even stronger, as we expand our operating margins to 15-17% and further improve our profitability," said Delta chief executive officer Richard Anderson. "All credit goes to Delta people worldwide who not only produced this record financial performance, but also continue to lead the industry in operational reliability and customer satisfaction."
"A solid demand environment, coupled with higher revenues from our corporate contract gains, merchandising efforts, and investments in New York and Seattle, helped offset weakness in Pacific yields and resulted in a nearly 6 percent increase in Delta's unit revenues for the June quarter," said Ed Bastian, Delta's president. "For the September quarter, we expect unit revenues to increase 2 to 4 percent, driven by continued corporate and domestic strength, along with benefits from our revenue initiatives."
Shares of Delta Air Lines gained $0.53 or 1.43 percent to settle at $37.68 on Tuesday.
