You can always ask for a raise, but it might not go over well when a company is losing money.
As MSalters notes, your value to the company is set by the market, and this isn't dependent on whether your employer is losing money. In theory, they should assess your value in largely the same way, regardless of their profit margin. If you are valuable, then they stand to lose if you leave--even if they are already losing money.
However, in practice, it's not so simple. Companies in crisis don't always act logically, and there also might be other things that going on that you don't know about.
- General company policies like a pay freeze might be in effect, making it hard to enact a raise.
- If things are really bad, decisions may be driven by short-term thinking (such as trying to stay solvent) that make your long-term value less relevant.
- There may be plans such as a merger in the works, which might completely change these calculations.
- The company might want to shed staff, and thus would not mind if you decide to leave.
Given that your company is doing illogical things like suspending evaluation of employee performance, I think it's quite likely that you will face some barriers to getting a raise.
In addition, you face some reputational risk if you ask for a raise in this scenario:
- Other workers (such as your boss) might feel they are making sacrifices and resent the fact that you are not willing to.
- The possibility of being perceived as selfish/greedy by too aggressively asking for a raise is increased in this environment.
My advice is to be cautious. I wouldn't completely rule out requesting a pay raise, but making this request now is a bit riskier than usual, and probably less likely to be successful.
The recent good projections give you a reasonable cause to at least ask. But still, the fact that normal raises have yet to resume mean some of the above conditions are likely to apply.
I know now it is not possible, but still I would like you to consider in a year or so...
They'll promise you the moon and the stars in a year. Then a year passes and you go So... about those stars... they'll say Can't you see how difficult things are? Stop being so selfish! Wait till next year and you'll get double stars! Point is, if they can't afford your market rate, maybe you should find someone who does. Yes, it is acceptable to ask for a raise if you feel you deserve it.