WHILE MANY IRISH people soaked up the warm summer weather, low-cost airline Ryanair was hit by July heatwave and has issued a profit warning.
The company’s share value has dropped 14 per cent on the back of the announcement, with the ISEQ index of Irish shares down over 2 per cent and Aer Lingus, which Ryanair owns a 29.8 per cent stake in, down by 4.5 per cent.
The company said that it expects full year profits to be in the lower end of the €570 million to €600 million range.
The company said in a trading statement said that if the fares and continue to fall, it could not be guaranteed that profits would not be at the lower end, or even below, that range.
CEO Michael O’Leary said that warm weather and weak exchange rates had hit profits.
“The booking pattern returned to some normality in August, which will ensure that our H1 guidance remains unchanged, which is for a small increase in H1 profits over the prior year H1 comparable.”
O’Leary added that had been a “perceptible dip” in bookings and yields for September, October and November.
He said that the company will carry fewer passengers in the winter, as well as holding a seat sale in order to put the company back on course.
“We will respond to this lower yield outlook by selectively reducing our winter season capacity, thereby cutting our full year traffic target from over 81.5m to just under 81m.
We are also rolling out a range of lower fares and aggressive seat sales particularly in those markets mainly UK, Scandinavia, Spain and Ireland.
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