Cape Town - For an airline that is intent on cutting costs, South African Airways (SAA) has a strange way of showing it.

The airline has just reported a loss of R990m for the 2012/13 financial year, an improvement from a loss of R1.3bn in the prior year.

It is suffering from a decade of losses totalling more than R15bn and is implementing a turnaround plan that was tabled in parliament in February last year.

This turnaround strategy has never been fully disclosed to the public and benchmarks and milestones are unknown, which makes it impossible to judge if it is actually working.

One way to measure if a business is going to turn around is for it to keep an eye on staff numbers, and at SAA this is not happening.

The airline keeps employing people, and Minister of Public Enterprises Malusi Gigaba has made it clear that no one will be fired.

The problem then is why are more and more people being hired?

Headcount in the 2013 year reflects a 4% increase in staff numbers to 11 500 people.

This resulted in employee costs rising by 3% to R4.8bn from R4.7bn.

The airline has completely destroyed the work done by former CEO Khaya Ngqula, who reduced the staff complement by about 20% in 2008 in a fundamental restructuring excercise that cost the airline R400m that year.

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SAA hits headwinds with R990m loss

BANGKOK: Thai stocks closed at their lowest in more than two weeks on Tuesday amid rising political tensions ahead of the Feb. 2 election, while Philippine shares extended losses for a second session with large caps under pressure due to more foreign selling. The key Thai SET index dropped 1.3 percent to 1,271.79, its lowest close since Jan. 10. Shares of airport operator Airports of Thailand and Siam Commercial Bank were among those actively traded. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has confirmed a general election will be held on Feb. 2, deputy prime minister Pongtep Tepkanjana told reporters late on Tuesday after a meeting at which the election authority had proposed a delay because of unrest in the capital. Tisco Securities strategist Viwat Techapoonphol expected near term weakness, with support for the benchmark at 1,260. "Concerns ahead of the weekend election appeared to be increased and Thai market underperformed the region mainly because of the political factor," he said. Foreign investors offloaded 3.3 billion baht ($100.29 million) of Thai shares on Tuesday, adding to Monday's $102 million, stock exchange and Thomson Reuters data showed. The Philippine main index ended down nearly 1 percent at a one-week closing low of 6,022.81, weighed down by index heavyweight Ayala Land and Ayala Corp. Foreign investors sold a net 1.14 billion peso ($25.11 million) of shares on Tuesday after selling 1.54 billion peso ($33.95 million) on Monday, stock exchange data showed. Stocks in Singapore gained 0.7 percent, Malaysia was up 0.1 percent and Indonesia rose 0.4 percent amid technical-led buying after recent falls due to expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve will scale back its bond buying further in a two-day meeting starting on Tuesday. Vietnam's stock market is closed from Tuesday to Feb. 5 for the country's Lunar New Year festival. SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS Change on day Market Current Prev Close Pct Move TR SE Asia Index* 377.43 377.07 +0.10 Singapore 3062.41 3042.43 +0.66 Kuala Lumpur 1781.25 1778.88 +0.13 Bangkok 1271.79 1288.59 -1.30 Jakarta 4341.65 4322.78 +0.44 Manila 6022.81 6081.61 -0.97 Change on year Market Current End 2013 Pct Move TR SE Asia Index* 377.43 388.37 -2.82 Singapore 3062.41 3167.43 -3.32 Kuala Lumpur 1781.25 1866.96 -4.59 Bangkok 1271.79 1298.71 -2.07 Jakarta 4341.65 4274.18 +1.58 Manila 6022.81 5889.83 +2.26 Ho Chi Minh -- 504.63 +10.28 * The Thomson Reuters South East Asia Index is a highly representative indicator of stocks listed in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Stock Market Volume (shares) Market Current Volume Average Volume 30 days Singapore 223,178,600 169,769,690 Kuala Lumpur 153,111,900 113,484,820 Bangkok 4,504,198 4,807,113 Jakarta 2,532,395,500 2,894,272,403 Manila 67,552 71,538- Reuters

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Southeast Asia Stocks -Thai shares hit 2-wk low, M'sia up