The airline posted a 41.4% increase in full-year pre-tax profit to £578 million – which was at the higher end of the £570 million to £580 million range that the company announced in September. Revenue jumped by 16.8% to £5.898 billion. The group announced plans for a 43% increase in the dividend to 58.6p, which needs shareholder approval. This is a clear sign the group is confident in its future earnings ability.
EasyJet PLC (LON:EZJ) confirmed that bookings for the summer are ‘promising at this very early stage’. There has been solid demand in forward bookings for the first-half of next year. The airline’s numbers are impressive, especially when you consider how their competitors are performing.
The company had a difficult time during the summer as strikes, and air traffic control restrictions, and not to mention the unusually warm weather disrupted that business. Flight cancellations ticked up in the third-quarter, and oil prices soared in the summer too. On the bright side, easyJet’s acquisition of the Tegel airport in Berlin is showing promising signs. The group expects the operation in the German capital to break even in 2019.
Many of the issues holding back easyJet are sector wide, and in recent months there have been profit warnings from Thomas Cook (LON:TCG), Ryanair and Flybe (LON:FLYB), in fact, only last week Flybe stated they are keen to sell-off parts of the business, or even sell the company as a whole. Johan Lundgren, easyJet’s CEO, said the group is always on the lookout for ‘strategic opportunities’, but regarding the Flybe situation there is ‘nothing to talk about at this moment’.
Ryanair (LON:RYA) has dented its reputation due to the pilot roster fiasco last year, and the spate of industrial action this year. EasyJet have had their own issues, but not on the same scale and should be able to gain more market share in the low-fare sector.
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