Ryanair Cautious On Outlook As Q3 Profit Down; Stock Dips

(RTTNews) - Shares of Ryanair Holdings Plc (RYA.L, RYAAY) were losing around 2 percent in the early morning trading in London after the Irish no-frills airline issued a cautious outlook for the remainder of the year 2017, after reporting weak profit in the third quarter.

Looking ahead, the company noted that with less than 2 months of the year to go, and no Easter in March, it expects the fourth-quarter yields to decline by as much as 15 percent. It will carry over 119 million customers in fiscal year 2017, and full year ex-fuel unit costs should fall by about 4 percent.

The company maintained full-year profit guidance in a range of 1.30 billion euros to 1.35 billion euros. The guidance heavily depends on the absence of any unforeseen security events affecting close in bookings.

Ryanair expects to continue to grow strongly in continental Europe in 2017 with more new bases and routes still to be added.

Looking out into fiscal year 2018, the company is still finalising budget but it seems clear that pricing will continue to be challenging.

The company expects the uncertainty post Brexit, weaker Sterling and the switch of charter capacity from Turkey, Egypt and North Africa into Spain and Portugal, will continue to put downward pressure on pricing for the remainder of this year and FY18.

The firm plans to respond to these adverse market conditions with strong traffic growth and lower unit costs.

The company expects load factor active/price passive strategy will win market share from all higher cost EU competitor airlines, while it continue to open new markets.

For the third quarter, profit attributable to equity holders of parent fell about 8 percent to 94.7 million euros from last year's 102.7 million euros. On a per share basis, earnings declined 2 percent to 7.55 euros from 7.68 euros in the prior year.

Total operating revenues from continuing operations for the third-quarter quarter grew 1 percent to 1.35 billion euros from 1.33 billion euros last year.

Scheduled revenues fell 4 percent from last year to 950.5 million euros, offset by a 15 percent gain in Ancillary revenues.

Ancillary revenues were driven by a solid performance in reserved seating, priority boarding, on-board sales and car hire offset by lower travel insurance and hotels penetration.

Average fares fell by 17 percent to just 33 euros per passenger, while traffic grew 16 percent to 28.8 million customers. Load factors rose 2 percent to 95 percent.

Ryanair's CEO Michael O'Leary said, "As previously guided, our fares this winter have fallen sharply as Ryanair continues to grow traffic and load factors strongly in many European markets. These falling yields were exacerbated by the sharp decline in Sterling following the Brexit vote."

In London, Ryanair shares were trading at 14.49 euros, down 1.90 percent.