Ryanair half year profits rise 37%

Ryanair today (2 Nov) announced H1 profits (pre-exceptions) rose 37% to €1,088m. Traffic grew 13% to 58m as load factor jumped 4% points to 93%.  Ave fares rose 2% as unit costs fell 6% (ex-fuel they were flat).

H1 Results (IFRS)	Sep 30, 2014	Sep 30, 2015	% Change
Customers (m)	51.3	58.1	+13%
Revenue (m)	€3,537	€4,040	+14%
Profit after Tax (m)*	€795	€1,088	+37%
Net Margin*	23%	27%	+4pts
Basic EPS*	€0.57	€0.80	+39%

* Excludes exceptional accounting gain of €317.5m on sale of Aer Lingus shareholding.

Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O’Leary, said: “We are pleased to report this strong set of H1 results. We have enjoyed a bumper summer due to a very rare confluence of favourable events including stronger sterling, adverse weather in northern Europe, reasonably flat industry capacity and further savings on our unhedged fuel, as millions of customers switched to Ryanair for our Always Getting Better (“AGB”) customer experience programme. Key milestones in the half-year include:

─       Traffic up 13% to 58m (load-factor up 4 points to 93%)

─       Ave fares up 2% to €56

─       Unit costs down 6%

─       H1 profits up 37% to €1,088m (pre-exceptions)

─       First EU airline to carry over 10m customers in one month (July)

─       €400m share buyback completed in Aug

─       €400m Aer Lingus proceeds returning to shareholders in Nov

─       New personalised websitelaunched in Oct

New Routes and Bases:

This winter Ryanair will open 4 new bases (Berlin, Corfu, Gothenburg & Milan) and 119 new routes including a 4 daily Dublin – Amsterdam route, a 6 daily Cologne – Berlin service, and 3 routes to Eilat Ovda (Israel) from Budapest, Kaunas and Krakow.  We will deliver double digit growth in Ireland, UK, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Poland, Germany, and in Denmark where our Copenhagen operations (15 routes) will grow by over 100% to 2.5m customers p.a. This winter we take delivery of 28 new Boeing 737 aircraft which will take the fleet to 340 by year end, with another 330 on order. These aircraft will deliver with Boeing’s new Sky interiors and slimline seats which will improve leg room and provide our passengers with an even more enjoyable on board experience.