German airline Lufthansa saw its shares plummet on Wednesday morning after suspending its own payout.

Lufthansa is immersed in a restructuring programme and even though the company managed to obtain net profit of €990m in 2012, it said in an advanced release today that the positive number was primarily from the one-off sale of equity investments.

Germany's largest airline said operating profit dropped to €524m from the prior year's €820m, primarily due to €160m in costs related to its restructuring plan. The consensus had been expecting €595m.

In this context, Lufthansa announced its plan to suspend its dividend programme in an effort to fully retain profit as it moves ahead with the cost-cutting plan that is expected to improve operating result by €1.5bn by 2015.

Lufthansa currently leads the decliners in Germany as it plunges 5.32% to €15.135.

JM

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