Ryanair to stick with profit target
Irish airline Ryanair kept its full-year profit forecast yesterday which analysts said it looked to outperform comfortably after first-quarter earnings beat expectations and fares rose.
Europe’s biggest low-cost carrier said net profit for the three months to the end of June fell 24 per cent on disruption caused by a volcanic ash cloud. It maintained however that after adjusting for the €50m (£42.3m) cost of almost 10,000 flights cancelled in April and May it would be able to grow full-year profit by up to 15 per cent.
“Despite these volcanic ash disruptions Ryanair continues to increase traffic, yields, and profits, while most of our competitors are cutting capacity and reporting losses,” said chief executive Michael O’Leary.
Unadjusted net profit for the three months to the end of June came in at €93.7m, but after adjusting for the airspace closures it rose one per cent to €138.5m, compared with a forecast for pre-exceptional profit of €118.6m by in-house broker Davy.
Ryanair kept its forecast for full-year net profit to rise to between €350m and €375m before ash costs of around €50m. With last year’s net profit at €305m or €319m before one-off items, a full-year 2011 result in the forecast range could still lead to a slight rise or slight fall in its profit