20th May 2019 06:57
LONDON (Alliance News) - Ryanair Holdings PLC on Monday reported a significant fall in its annual profit due to increased fuel, airport and staff costs.
For the financial year that ended March 31, the Irish budget airline reported pretax profit of EUR948.1 million, down 41% from EUR1.61 billion the year prior. This included a pretax loss of EUR182.7 million at Lauda, Ryanair's Austrian airline established by former Formula 1 champion Niki Lauda and acquired by Ryanair in December.
Group revenue rose 6% to EUR7.69 billion from EUR7.15 billion, with an increase in both scheduled and ancillary revenue.
Fuel & oil costs rose 23% to EUR2.42 billion from EUR1.90 billion, staff costs increased 28% to EUR945.0 million from EUR738.5 million, and airport charges rose 9% to EUR1.02 billion from EUR938.6 million, hurting profit.
"As previously guided, Ryanair, excluding Lauda, reports a full year after tax profit of EUR1.02 billion. Short-haul capacity growth and the absence of Easter in the fourth quarter led to a 6% fare decline, which stimulated 7% traffic growth to over 139 million," Chief Executive Officer Michael O'Leary commented.
During the year, Ryanair saw a 7% increase in traffic - meaning the number of passengers carries - to 139.1 million from 130.3 million.
Load factor - a key measure for the airline industry - rose 1% to 96%.
Looking ahead, the airline expects traffic to rise 8% in financial 2020 to 153 million passengers. However, assuming revenue per pax growth of 3%, Ryanair guided for broadly flat group profit, including Lauda. This will range from EUR750 million if RPP rises 2%, up to EUR950 million if RPP rises 4%.
"While first half bookings are slightly ahead of last year, fares are lower and we expect this trend will continue through Summer 2019. We have zero second half visibility," the company added.
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