19th Feb 2016 08:16
LONDON (Alliance News) - Aircraft leasing company Avation PLC said on Friday its pretax profit was down for the six months to December due to interest expense related to its global medium-term note programme, but said, excluding this cost, it had delivered growth for the period.
Avation said its lease revenue increased by 14% in the six months to USD31.5 million, from USD27.5 million for the same period in 2014, while its fleet expanded by four aircraft. In January, after the half had ended, it added another aircraft, pushing the total fleet to 34 aircraft.
The company's earnings before interest and tax stood at USD17.9 million, up from USD15.6 million in 2014.
Avation said its pretax profit would have seen a rise for the year, to USD9.7 million from USD7.0 million, had it not been for an interest expense related to its global medium-term note programme, which is geared to make it less reliant on issuing equity when it finances new aircraft. This added USD4.1 million to finance expenses for the period and, as such, its pretax profit was lower than last year at USD5.6 million.
Avation said it would be focusing further on the Asia Pacific and European airline markets, which represent passenger growth regions, adding it would be seeking to diversify its airline customer base to mitigate concentration risk. Avation said it has further additions to its fleet scheduled in the remainder of the financial year to end-June, which it said should offset future interest expenses.
Avation shares were down 0.4% at 139.00 pence on Friday morning.
By Hannah Boland; [email protected]; @Hannaheboland
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