In January 2014 Portugal’s government instructed the advisors who are looking at privatisation scenarios for national airline TAP to look again at a stock market listing for the profitable company.
Ministers want to look at all possibilities before making a long-overdue final decision on the sale of the company and requested a financial update on the value of the company based on its good 2013 trading results.
TAP transported 10.7 million passengers in 2013, an impressive performance and a full 5% over 2012, as had been predicted by the airline’s boss, Fernando Pinto.
The rise of 517,000 passengers was mainly due to a positive performance on the routes from Portugal to and from Africa and Venezuela. Another highlight in the 2013 accounts was increased traffic on the route from the mainland to the Azores and Madeira, which increased 12.2%. TAP’s European routes added 433,000 passengers in the year which was "decisive for global growth."
In addition to an updated valuation, the advisors have been asked to study the possibility of a stock market listing which would allow the state to keep a substantial shareholding in the company.
The one benefit of all the governmental dithering over the sale of TAP is that, since the aborted attempt at a sale in late 2012 with the last minute rejection of Gérman Efromovich’s offer, the value of the company has risen substantially on the back of good 2013 trading and market share figures.
TAP is on the Troika list of state assets to be sold but with the Troika leaving town in a couple of months time the pressure may be eased and a well-planned stock market listing could pay dividends.
