Easyjet results
July 22, 2015
Easyjet was the top gainer on London's FTSE exchange in early trading Wednesday after the airline announced better-than-expected results that indicated profit growth could be as high as 14 percent.
Shares in Europe's second-biggest budget carrier leaped almost 4.8 percent at the start of trading, even as overall European share prices fell.
The airline said revenue per seat was driven by its British business and beach routes across Europe in May and June. This came despite competitive pressures, a French air traffic controllers' strike in April and a fire at Rome Fiumicino airport the following month that decreased revenue per seat by 3 percent.
While revenues were down 1 percent to 1.228 billion pounds (1.75 billion euros), capacity grew by 4.7 percent to 20.8 million seats, with the Easyjet fleet increasing by 13 aircraft to 235.
The number of passengers carried grew 6.2 percent to 19.1 million, representing planes that were on average 91 percent full. Cost per seat declined overall by 3.3 percent, helped by lower fuel costs.
Easyjet Chief Executive Carolyn McCall was bullish about the results. Noting that Easyjet had already sold 77 percent of seats in the second half of its reporting year, she said "Our Q3 performance means that for the full year easyJet will grow revenue, profits and dividends."
The 20-year-old airline said that it expected full-year pre-tax profit for the 12 months to the end of September in the range of 620 to 660 million pounds, compared with a company-supplied forecast of 638 million pounds in May from a poll of 24 analysts.
sgb/hg (Reuters, dpa)