Even Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd appears as susceptible to the recent flood disaster that had hit Australia as the company echoed emerging sentiments of sliding profit guidance among the country's major firms.

The floods, the unpredictable consumer predilections and the computer glitch that disrupted its operations last year were among the reasons cited by Virgin Blue for the retreat of up to 50 percent on its first half net profit in fiscal 2011.

The airline said on Tuesday that its net profit after tax is expected to slide at around $23 million to $26 million in the first six months of financial year 2011/11, coming from the more than $62 million it posted in the previous financial year.

Also, Virgin Blue is projecting that its underlying net profit before tax would only hover between $70 million and $75 million in the same period, which is a slight departure from the company's fiscal 2010 posting of more than $75 million.

The downtrend profit guidance announced by the company did not sit well in the market as Virgin Blue shares shed some 2.5 cents or 5.88 percent to 40 cents as of the morning session in the stock exchange.

Much of the woes that pulled down its earnings guidance, according to Virgin Blue, was caused by the meltdown of its check-in and operating system in September last year, an episode that virtually paralysed the airline for days, resulting to losses of up to $20 million.

Making the matter worse is the flood disaster that hit much of Queensland during the past weeks, which the company said would only discourage consumer spending and could lead to months of revenue losses that could run as high as $40 million if the stalled spending is extended further.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Virgin Blue complained that "the slowdown in consumer spending experienced across the discretionary retail and leisure sector, together with the recent floods in the eastern states, could have a significant impact on trading conditions over the coming months."

While the exact figures of projected losses from retail and leisure stagnations, Virgin Blue said that $40 million is a conservative estimate at this time as it added that "non cash impact of ineffective hedges in respect of future periods was around $17 million."

At present, the company said that assessment of the disaster's impact on its operations is underway though it stressed that "operations to all ports are returning to normal, including the corporate Headquarters in Brisbane which were evacuated during the floods."