RYANAIR REPORTS Q3 PROFIT OF €18M (UP 21%)
TRAFFIC UP 3%, AVG FARES UP 8% - F.Y. GUIDANCE RAISED TO €540M
Ryanair, Europe's only ultra-low cost carrier today (Jan 28) announced Q3 profits of €18m, up €3m on last year despite an €81m increase in fuel costs. Revenues rose 15% to €969m as traffic grew 3% to 17.3m passengers. Unit costs rose 11% mainly due to a 24% (€81m) increase in fuel. Excluding fuel Q3 unit costs rose by 4%, while avg. fares improved by 8%.
Outlook.
Our Q3 yields were boosted by stronger pre-Christmas bookings, while lower than expected operating costs delivered slightly better profits than forecast. However Q4 traffic (as previously guided) will drop by approx.400,000 passengers (-3%)below last year's Q4, due to our grounding up to 80 aircraft which limits the impact of high oil prices, high airport fees at Stansted and Dublin, and seasonally weaker Q4 demand. On the basis of this improved Q3 result, our capacity cuts and limited visibility over Easter bookings and yields, (although we have seen some yield softness in January), we now expect our full year profits to exceed our previous guidance (of €490m to €520m) and rise close to €540m, a 7% increase on last year's profits despite a 19% increase in our oil costs.