China Southern Airlines Q3 net profit drops 29 pct

Chinese airline giant China Southern Airlines said on Sunday its net profit tumbled 29.25 percent year on year to reach 2.22 billion yuan (352.4 million U.S. dollars) in the third quarter of this year.

The decline in the July-September period narrowed from a sharp contraction of 83.7 percent seen in the first half of 2012, according to a report the company filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Earnings per share stood at 0.23 yuan, which was also down 29.25 percent from previous year, said the report.

The carrier said in the report that its operation performance are still under apparent impact of the fluctuation of the exchange rate and the global oil prices.

The company's financial costs surged to 518 million yuan in the third quarter due to the foreign exchange loss amid the devaluation during the period, it said.