The sibling duo behind two of biggest operators of flights from Scottish airports have waived loan interest charges worth nearly £1.5million, allowing the parent company to stay profitable.
Brothers Stephen and Peter Bond wrote off the interest payments, meaning Airline Investments, which owns both Loganair and bmi regional, could post adjusted pre-tax profits of £250,000 for the year to March 31, 2016.
But a “notional” accounting charge for the unpaid interest and a £2.5million write-down for bmi’s hedges against volatile currency exchange rates pushed bottom line pre-tax profits into the red by nearly £3.7million after profits of £6million in 2014/15.
Turnover at Airline Investment – based at East Midlands Airport – rocketed to £166,490 in the latest period, from £93,620 the year before, following its move to acquire 100% of bmi regional parent Sector Aviation Holdings in April 2015.
The figures are all from accounts released by Companies House yesterday.
The Bonds, who were ranked 457th on the last Sunday Times Rich List of the UK’s wealthiest people, with a fortune estimated at £225million, previously owned North Sea helicopter operator Bond Aviation.
They sold Bond Aviation to World Helicopters, a holding company of Spanish group Inaer, about six years ago in a deal worth nearly £270million.
World Helicopters later changed its name to name to Avincis Mission Critical Services and, through another acquisition, is now part of engineering and defence giant Babcock International.
Airline Investments’ two businesses, Loganair and bmi regional, trade as separate sister airlines with their own management teams and brand identities.
Results for Paisley-based Loganair announced in November revealed a near halving of profits during a “difficult” year to March 31, 2016.
Pre-tax profits came in at £3.6million, down from £7million a year earlier, on turnover up by 2% at £95.3million.
Loganair has since revealed it will fly solo to and from north and north-east airports from September after the collapse of an eight-year-old franchise deal with Flybe.
It has also announced a string of new flights, calling its new summer schedule “a statement of intent” before it takes over routes currently operated in partnership with Flybe.
Aberdeen will be the departure point for a new service linking Scotland and the Faroe Islands for the first time in many years.
Airports in the Highlands and islands will benefit from both new and additional services, with Glasgow also in line for extra flights and a new route.
In Airline Investments’ latest accounts, group chief executive Peter Simpson said both Loganair and bmi regional, which operates more than 350 scheduled flights a week across a network of 31 destinations in 11 European countries, would “continue to identify controlled expansion”.