RYANAIR HAS ANNOUNCED that its profits increased by 110% in the third quarter of 2015, up to €103 million from €49 million in the same period in 2014.
The airline’s passenger numbers grew by 20% to 24.9 million, and average fares fell by 1% to €40. Ryanair expects fares to drop by 6% this quarter.
The company company said revenues increased by 17% from €1.13 billion to €1.33 billion in the same period.
Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary said millions of new customers are choosing the airline for its pricing, expanding route network and the Always Getting Better customer experience programme.
He also said bookings were affected by the ”terrorist events in Paris and Brussels”.
We reacted to this softness by running price promotions and discounted fares to stimulate double digit traffic growth. While average fares fell 1% (previously guided flat pricing), this was offset by lower unit costs.
Ryanair’s unit costs fell by 5% in Q3. Fuel, which represents 40% of the airline’s cost base, was down 10% per passenger.
In light of rising profitability and improving cashflow, the board has approved an €800 million share buy-back to commence on Friday, 5 February. It is likely to be executed over a nine-month period.
When this buy-back is complete, Ryanair will have returned in excess of €4 billion to shareholders since 2008.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say