The events of 11 September and the ensuing slide in air passenger numbers sent aviation services group Alpha into the red for the year to 31 January. The group took a £23.1m restructuring exceptional hit, the bulk of which consisted of redundancy costs, flight kitchen closures, asset impairments and goodwill write-off costs. This turned last year's £5.9m pre-tax profit into a £6.9m loss, on sales of £430.8m (£433m). Alpha also revealed an £8m pension scheme deficit under the new 'FRS 17' accounting rules. However, chief executive Kevin Abbott said 'We had a strong first-half trading performance, and our ability to react quickly meant the impact of 11 September was minimised at an operating level'. He added that there are 'signs that a recovery in airline travel is underway, and the actions we've taken leave us well positioned to benefit from a recovery'. Andrew Murphy, analyst at house broker WestLB Panmure, has pencilled in pre-tax profits, before exceptionals and goodwill, of £21.2m and earnings of 7.4p for 2003. Although the air industry outlook is uncertain, Alpha could be an interesting recovery play trading as it is on an undemanding p/e of just 9.3, against a 28.9 sector average.

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Alpha Airports			04/04/2002
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