Ryanair boosted profit 41 per cent in the fiscal second quarter after attracting a record number of summer bookings, and said full-year earnings will be at the top end of its forecast range.
Profit after tax jumped to €843 million ($930 million) in the three months through September from €598 million a year earlier, Dublin-based Ryanair said in a statement Monday. Analysts had predicted €837 million, based on the average of six estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Passenger numbers swelled to 58 million in the first half and Europe’s biggest discount airline said the 12 month figure should reach 105 million, or 1 million more than forecast in September. That should lift earnings to the upper end of a €1.175 billion to €1.225 billion range, even as competition gets tougher as rivals add capacity, Ryanair said.
“Our costs advantage over everyone else remains very much in place,” chief financial officer Neil Sorahan said in an interview. “That gives us the confidence that as we add the traffic and capacity over the winter we will still continue to hit the numbers.”
Ryanair has sought to refine its no-frills image by improving its website, targeting primary airports and offering a range of paid-for extras to entice more business passengers and families.
The strategy, dubbed Always Getting Better, as well as the strength of the British pound and a spur for travel provided by wet weather across the U.K., helped keep load factors, or the proportion of seats filled, above 90 per cent for the first half.
Ryanair excluded gains from the sale of a stake in Aer Lingus Group from it net result. EasyJet, Europe’s second-biggest discount airline, will report report full-year figures on 17 November.
Bloomberg News, edited by Hospitality Ireland
