Ryanair Boosts First Half Profit 7 Percent

Irish budget carrier Ryanair reported first half net profit of EUR€1.168 billion (USD$1.29 billion), up 7 percent from the same period in 2015.

First half revenue was up 2 percent at EUR€4.132 billion, with operating expenses of EUR€2.783 billion, up 0.1 percent.

Passenger traffic grew to 64.8 million passengers flown, a 12 percent increase, with load factor up 2 percentage points at 95 percent.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said the result was a “creditable performance in difficult market conditions due to repeated ATC strikes, terror events, and the adverse economic impact of the Brexit vote.”

Ryanair said it delivered a unit cost saving of 10 percent in the first half as its fuel bill fell by 8 percent due to hedging.

Looking forward Ryanair said it had “delivered a strong first half but weaker air fares and Brexit uncertainty will be the dominant features” of the second half.

“We expect to carry just over 119 million customers in FY17 and this stronger growth requires us to raise our long term traffic forecast by over 10 percent from 180 million to over 200 million… by March 2024.”

The uncertainty over Brexit “will continue to overhang our business for FY18” with planned UK growth in 2017 reduced from 12 percent to approximately 5 percent. Ryanair said the capacity will be moved to stimulate growth in markets such as Italy, Germany and Belgium.