http://www.smh.com.au/business/funds-back-joyce-move-20111030-1mqga.html
LARGE institutional investors have rallied behind Qantas management following the dramatic escalation in its industrial dispute, despite expectations the airline's share price will take a hammering today.
With each day of the grounding of Qantas's international and domestic operations - numbering 108 aircraft - costing it $20 million, the total bill so far has topped almost $110 million.
Shares in Qantas closed at $1.545 on Friday and are expected to fall substantially today.
But Matt Williams, the head of equities for Perpetual, said Qantas management had been left with little choice but to lock out all workers engaged in the industrial action.
''Every day for Qantas is a fight for survival. The last thing a company that is so exposed to macro influences out of their control wants is an internal battle,'' he said yesterday. ''It just shows how serious this ongoing dispute is for their business.''
Will Seddon, a portfolio manager at White Funds Management, said Qantas had been forced into a position where it needed to act, although he conceded that investors would be concerned about the brand damage from the unprecedented grounding in the short term.
''It does seem very extreme. There has to be a risk that it blows up in their face,'' he said.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/funds-back-joyce-move-20111030-1mqga.html#ixzz1cJMshZdY
