Response by MAS to Another Brick in the Wall

By Tan Wai Fong, Head of Media Relations, MAS

MAS response to Why Idris Jala did not reveal and financial press not ask MAS operating

We would like to offer clarification pertaining to our Q2 financial results announcement in August. We made a conscious decision to be an early adopter of the Financial Reporting Standard 139 (FRS139) beginning FY09.

When we announced this in May, we highlighted that we wanted to ensure that we were aligned to how other full service carriers reported their results and to ensure transparency around our results.

In our Q209 results announcement filed in Bursa, under part B review of performance, we first announced that MAS recorded an operating loss, followed by derivative gains and net profit. Contrary to what has been said, during our result briefings, we walked the media and analysts through our P& L in terms of revenue, expenditure, operating loss and net profit. We had robust discussions on yield, seat factors, operational losses and ways to increase revenue, operating cash flow and fuel hedging.

In our response to the editorial written by The Star’s Managing Editor, P. Gunasegaran, Tengku Azmil Zahruddin, then Executive Director/ Chief Financial Officer, provided clarification on this matter. The full response is available here, http://www.malaysiaairlinesblog.com/pt/blog/default.aspx?id=444&t=MAS-Adoption-of-FRS139-pushes-agenda-for.

We would like to reiterate that transparency is our utmost priority. We will continue to assist the users of our financial statements in the FRS139 environment to understand our business performance.