Frankfurt: Germany’s airberlin said on Saturday it had enough money to run its business, denying claims by an investor rights group it was trying to hide its financial difficulties by twice delaying publication of its annual results.
The airline, almost 30 per cent owned by Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, on Wednesday postponed publication of its results for the second time in a week, saying it was in talks for a recapitalisation to strengthen its finances.
“The company has sufficient liquidity and also has additional flexibility through an undrawn shareholder loan,” airberlin said in an emailed statement on Saturday.
Daily newspaper Berliner Zeitung quoted Michael Kunert, spokesman for investor rights group SdK, as saying he believed airberlin had breached financial disclosure rules.
“[Mr] Kunert’s claims are wrong, and we believe they are damaging to our business,” airberlin said, adding it would not rule out legal action against SdK.
German financial watchdog BaFin was not immediately available for comment on Saturday.
Berliner Zeitung quoted a BaFin spokeswoman as saying German public limited companies had until the end of April to publish their financial results for the previous year.
