Deutsche Lufthansa - GIS Highlights - Prepared for a challenging year 2012 (Add, TP €11.50, CP €8.87*) – CFO Gemkow provided a very comprehensive presentation which again reconfirmed our positive longer-term investment stance.* Lufthansa stands out as the most defensive play among European flags and trades at a marked discount to its closest peer, Air France. Moving through Q1, support could come from the finalisation of the sale of BMI and especially the announcement of a new wide-ranging cost-cutting programme. Shorter-term upside is, however, likely to remain capped by the ongoing high level of economic uncertainties and persisting downside to consensus estimates. Despite attractive longer-term growth prospects for the aviation industry, Mr. Gemkow highlighted a rather challenging outlook for 2012. Against this background, Lufthansa remains committed to a continuous optimisation of cost structures. As already speculated in the press, the new programme is likely to have a total volume of €1.5bn with details pending to be announced during Q1.
