21st Feb 2019 11:08
LONDON (Alliance News) - Avation PLC on Thursday proposed a maiden payout after reporting record earnings growth in the first half of its current financial year.
The aircraft leasing company said pretax profit in the six months to the end of December almost doubled to USD14.2 million from USD7.3 million reported a year earlier, as revenue improved by 11% to USD58.2 million.
In the first half, lease rental revenue increased by 40% to a record USD58.2 million, Avation said, including three ATR72-600 aircraft and one Airbus A220-300 aircraft acquired.
The company expects to deliver seven additional new aircraft into the fleet prior to its financial year end. One narrowbody Airbus A321-200 aircraft was sold during the period.
At December 31, Avation's fleet comprised 41 aircraft, including seven aircraft on finance lease. Total assets increased by 9% since the end of June 2018 to a record USD1.26 billion.
The company declared an interim dividend of 2.0 US cents per share versus none paid a year earlier.
"Avation posted record revenue, profit and total assets for the period ended December 31," said Executive Chair Jeff Chatfield.
"The company believes it has sufficient liquidity to fund further fleet growth and is currently assessing a number of assets for acquisition," added Chatfield.
Avation shares were trading 0.7% higher on Thursday at 289.00 pence each.
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