Virgin Australia posts $88 million loss last year

SYDNEY (AP) — Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd., the nation's second-largest airline, has posted a 98 million Australian dollar ($88 million) loss for the latest fiscal year, blaming competition, restructuring costs and Australia's carbon tax.

The loss for the year ended June 30 reported Friday was a reversal from an AU$22.8 million profit the previous year.

The result was in line with the company's guidance for a loss of between AU$95 million and AU$110 million.

Stripping out one-off costs and the recently acquired Skywest domestic airline, the underlying pre-tax loss was AU$72.8 million, down from an AU$82.5 million profit in 2011-12.

Virgin chief executive John Borghetti said that given the uncertain economic environment, he would not provide profit guidance for the current fiscal year.