4th May 2018 08:33
LONDON (Alliance News) - British Airways-parent International Consolidated Airlines Group SA on Friday reported a rise in profit in the first quarter of 2018, as passenger revenue grew.
IAG - which also owns Ireland's Aer Lingus and Spain's Iberia and Vueling - said pretax profit before exceptional items in the three months to the end of March more than doubled to EUR246.0 million from EUR93.0 million recorded in the same period the year before.
Pretax profit for the period rose to EUR885 million from EUR74 million a year ago, on a revenue of EUR5.02 billion, up 2.1%.
First quarter passenger unit revenue, which is measured by available seat per kilometre, was EUR4.41 billion, up 3.4% from EUR4.27 billion the prior year. This trend benefited partially from the timing of Easter, the company said.
Non-operating costs dropped significantly to EUR34.0 million form EUR67.0 million in the first quarter of 2017, helped by the reduction in net financing costs.
Non-fuel unit costs before exceptional items came in down 5.7% at 5.11 euro cents compared to 5.41 cents the year earlier. On a constant currency basis, it dropped 0.9%.
During the period, IAG carried 23.0 million passengers, up 8.5% versus prior year period.
Looking ahead, the company expects both passenger unit revenue and non-fuel unit costs for 2018 to improve at constant currency. Operating profit is predicted to increase year-on-year.
Shares in IAG were trading 2.4% higher at 656.20 pence each in early trade.
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