7th Aug 2007 07:00
easyJet PLC07 August 2007 07 August 2007 Q3 STATISTICS ON TRACK TO DELIVER FULL YEAR PROFIT GROWTH OF 40% - 50% ___________________________________________________________ Three months ending June 2007 June 2006 Change Passengers (m)1 9.9 8.8 +13.0% Load factor2 84.5% 86.0% -1.5%pts Total revenue3 (£m) 486.5 460.2 +5.7% Total revenue per seat4 (£) 41.46 45.07 -8.0% Average operating aircraft 126 110 +15.1% ASKs (bn) 11.7 9.9 +17.3% RPKs (bn) 9.9 8.6 +15.6% Average sector length (km) 993 973 +2.1% _____________________________________________________________________ Note: easyJet does not publish full quarterly results, but issues a tradingstatement for the first and third quarters as a supplement to its regularmonthly passenger statistics (see separate release for July statistics). Commenting on easyJet's third quarter performance, the company's Chief ExecutiveAndy Harrison said: "A strong increase in passenger numbers to almost 10m and continued high loadfactors in the third quarter reflect the strength of easyJet's business model,based on low fares with care and convenience. "Our future success is underpinned by our commitment to offering our customersthe lowest fares to Europe's most popular and convenient airports. These resultsprovide further support to our maintained profit guidance for the full year" Q3 performance easyJet continued to expand in its non-UK markets in the period, with theaddition of six routes to its Milan base and the addition of three new countriesto the network; Austria, Belgium and Romania. The airline now serves 318 routesto 83 airports in 22 countries and has become the second largest carrier inPortugal. The impact of reduced lead in fares, increased promotional activity and thedoubling of Air Passenger Duty in the UK has resulted in a fall in total revenueper seat of 8% compared to the same quarter last year. Rapid growth outside theUK means 46% of easyJet's revenues are now in currencies other than GBP and atconstant exchange rates, unit revenues were down 7% per seat or 5% perpassenger. Offsetting the impact of foreign exchange rates on revenues, the strength ofSterling has had a positive impact on costs with 35% of our costs in US Dollars,26% Euros and 8% Swiss Francs. Continued investment in a modern, low cost fleetand on-going improvements in efficiency have resulted in unit costs, excludingfuel, being down in excess of 10% compared to the same period last year. easyJet's ancillary offering remains strong and the company continues toinnovate in this area. In the quarter, the company launched easyJetHolidays,which will enable its customers to save time, money and effort while offeringtotally flexible holidays to suit the traveller's individual needs.easyJetHolidays offers access to over 900 daily flights and a choice of 10,000hotels and apartments, underpinned by a price promise guarantee. On 2nd August easyJet became the first major European airline to offer itscustomers the opportunity to offset the carbon emissions of their flights byinvesting exclusively in United Nations-certified projects. Outlook Today, easyJet also announced its July traffic statistics with strong loadfactors of over 88%, which reflect the success of the company's pricingstrategy. The company expects to maintain high load factors for the summer,while 2nd half guidance on revenue per seat remains unchanged, down 5% - 10%. easyJet continues to make good progress on costs, evidenced by the recentlyannounced $1 billion, 10 year engine maintenance and overhaul deal and continuedimprovements in operating efficiency. As a result, fourth quarter unit costreductions, excluding fuel, will continue at a similar rate to the third quarterand better than previously expected. For the full year, the company's total unitfuel costs will be slightly down versus last year. easyJet's full year guidance remains unchanged, for the year to September 2007the company expects pre-tax profit growth of 40% to 50%. END 1. Represents the number of earned seats flown. Earned seats include seats thatare flown whether or not the passenger turns up because easyJet is a no-refundairline, and once a flight has departed a no-show customer is generally notentitled to change flights or seek a refund. Earned seats also include seatsprovided for promotional purposes and to staff for business travel. 2. Represents the number of passengers as a proportion of the number of seatsavailable for passengers. No weighting of the load factor is carried out torecognise the effect of varying flight (or "stage") lengths. 3. Represents statutory revenue (unaudited) 4. Represents total revenue divided by the number of seats flown available forpassengers. For further details please contact: easyJet plc Andrew Barker, Investor Relations +44 (0) 1582 525 982 Toby Nicol, Corporate Communications +44 (0) 1582 525 339 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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