On Friday the Auckland International Airport Limited (ASX: AIA) share price came under pressure after the airport operator downgraded its earnings guidance due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Management advised that due to the international outbreak of COVID-19 and significant market uncertainty, it didn't expect to achieve its guidance for underlying earnings in the range of NZ$260 million and NZ$270 million.
Instead, it downgraded this guidance to between NZ$210 million and NZ$235 million. This was a 13% to 19% reduction on its previous guidance.
Unfortunately, this revised guidance didn't last long at all. This morning Auckland Airport has revealed that it will be withdrawing its guidance for the full year.
What did Auckland Airport announce?
Management has withdrawn its earnings guidance in response to the international outbreak of COVID-19 and the unprecedented travel restrictions announced over the weekend in New Zealand. Those restrictions will see any person entering New Zealand being forced into quarantine for two weeks.
The company's chief executive, Adrian Littlewood, explained: "Auckland Airport is a strong, diverse and resilient business, but these are unprecedented times. The health and safety of our community has to come first and we support the Government in its efforts to protect the health of New Zealanders and reduce the threat of transmission of COVID-19."
"Aviation and tourism are vitally important to New Zealand, supporting thousands of businesses and jobs. The future is very uncertain and our industry and government are pulling together so we can manage our way through this period and ensure we are in a strong position to rebuild, when the recovery phase eventuates," he added.
Littlewood concluded: "We are working through what the changes mean for our organisation to ensure we remain resilient through this challenging period."
All eyes will be on Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd (ASX: SYD) this week to see if it responds to recent border changes in Australia.
