Ryanair H1 Profit Down, Revenues Rise; Says Cautious In FY17 Outlook

(RTTNews) - Irish no-frills airline Ryanair Holdings Plc (RYA.L, RYAAY) reported Monday that its first-half profit after tax declined to 1.17 billion euros from last year's 1.41 billion euros. Earnings per share fell to 91.76 euro cents from 102.66 euro cents a year ago.

The prior year results included an exceptional accounting gain of 317.5 million euros on sale of Aer Lingus shareholding. Excluding the item, profit increased 7 percent, and earnings per share grew 15 percent.

Total operating revenues - continuing operations grew 2% to 4.13 billion euros from 4.04 billion euros last year.

The company noted that lower fares delivered 12% traffic growth to 64.8 million customers and a 2% jump in load factor to 95%.

Average fares fell 10% to 50 euros, however first-half unit costs also fell by 10%.

The results were achieved amid the difficult market conditions due to repeated ATC strikes, terror events, and the adverse economic impact of the Brexit vote in June which saw Sterling weaken materially over the peak summer period, the company said.

Looking ahead, the company said it remains cautious in outlook for fiscal 2017.

The company expects fares will continue to fall, and unit costs will fall by approximately 3% this year.

The company expects to carry just over 119 million customers in FY17 and this stronger growth requires it to raise long term traffic forecast by over 10% from 180m to over 200m customers p.a. by March 2024.

Further, the company said the uncertainty over Brexit, and the final outcome of the UK's departure negotiations with the European Union, will continue to overhang its business for fiscal 2018. The company expects to see weaker Sterling and slower economic growth in both the UK and Europe.