Flybe - Record profits up £17.1 million

[JobsaGoodun]

http://www1.flybe.com/news/0411/18.htm

A significant increase with Flybe now well established amongst the competition. A tribute to all the hard work put in over the past few years.

Quite a turnaround for a company on it's knees just a couple years ago.

[GOLF-INDIA BRAVO]

Well done to all, it`s nice to see someone is getting it right

Golf India Bravo

[GMIMA]

will this profit be reflected in the workers pay packet? mmmmm i wonder. nah, probably not. LOL

gmima

[CaptJ]

OPERATING profits

They are still on their knees having lost the AirFarnce franchise, with no money to invest in much-needed new aircraft.

[derbyram]

CaptJ I see you are quick to continue your usual bash Flybe campaign. And as usual you are wrong.

[ALLMCC]

Capt J

Perhaps you would like to share the reasons for your intense dislike of all things Flybe - your posts incessantly ridicule everything about an airline which has turned itself around over the past few years - is there a hint of jealousy there or maybe you have some other burning reason for such a dismissive attitude? By the way who are "Airfarnce"??

[eastern wiseguy]

ALLMCC wrote


Perhaps you would like to share the reasons for your intense dislike of all things Flybe

and

is there a hint of jealousy there or maybe you have some other burning reason for such a dismissive attitude?

pots and kettles!!! I remember asking you on more than one occassion the same questions relating to Easy and BFS ...so you may expect the same reply from Capt J I expect. They may have turned the company around ......but those 146 aircraft are truly the MOST uncomfortable things I have ever flown in ......

[JobsaGoodun]

Jeeeez guys,

One thing at a time. Now the company is profitable they can move on to the whole fleet issue and address the 146. With the lease rates on these aircraft so low it would be foolish to think that they will exit the fleet completely anytime soon. Yes, I think we may see a reduction but Flybe have a need for capacity around 100 seats that currently isn't available elsewhere. The 146/Avro RJ still fills this gap well.

CaptJ - please read once more the link at the top. This quite clearly shows the impact on revenue that the Air France franchise and the charter operations have. Quite simply, they alone are not enough to cause any substantial drop in revenues should they be lost. Yes they are important but certainly not as much as they used to be.

[Nil further]

Credit where credit is due guys , these results are simply staggering for a company that was struggling on a monthly basis to pay the salary bill only three years ago .

One wonders where the company would be now if JF had been in the seat all the years that BP was.

The future looks interesting for you flybe guys , though i still wouldnt hold my breath waiting for your Airbus/Boeing course or salary .

NF

[averytdeaconharry]

To make a £17 million profit in a year in which slots which cost nothing were sold to Qantas for £24 million sounds like an operating loss of £7 million to me.

Did Bombardier give them a subsidy to ensure that the Q400 replaced the 146 on some routes? If so how have they accounted for that?

[jamesbrownontheroad]

And good news for the future. If this isn't a confirmation of NWI (quote below from the press release) then I don't know what is...

...Flybe. has successfully developed its network in the West of the UK and will now seek to do the same job in the Eastern sectors of the country...

Nope, don't think there are any airports in the UK further east than Norwich :)

[Smokie]

Hmmmmm ....Every time its the same bollox, pre Christmas profit and Pre Payrise Doom and Gloom. WISE UP!:yuk:

Statistics and Lies, unfortunately more of the Latter.

[Jamesair]

Newcastle also qualifies under the eastern sectors of the country. Flybe have already stated their intention to expand there in 2005.

[Powerjet1]

A report in today's FT stated that Flybe would open three new bases over the next 18 months. The primary candidates are understood to be Aberdeen, Norwich & Southend.

[flyerz111]

Can anyone confirm if the slot money is actually included in the £14m profit or is this a real operating profit?

[Cyrano]

This is from the FT (http://news.ft.com/cms/s/abae7372-3906-11d9-bc76-00000e2511c8.html) , though I don't know if the link will continue to work as they archive articles:

FlyBE, the UK regional low-fares airline, more than doubled operating losses in the year ended March 31 but was able to report pre-tax profit thanks to a £17m windfall secured through the joint sale with Air France of take-off and landing slots at Heathrow airport.
...
According to its latest annual report, published yesterday, FlyBE's operating loss increased from £4.2m to £9.8m on turnover up 5.7 per cent from £231m to £244m.

However, with the exceptional landing slots credits, the group still achieved a pre-tax profit of £2.9m, up from £302,000 a year earlier


So in response to flyerz111, my reading of it is: yes, the slot money is included in the £14m profit.
(Not that you'd know this from the flyBE press release (http://www3.flybe.com/news/0411/18.htm) ). As the FT article makes clear, "real" operating result was a £9.8m loss. Seems a bit bold to treat proceeds from a slot sale as "operating" profit - it's pretty clearly an exceptional item. Any accountants out there want to take a view?

I am happy to see flyBE continuing to expand and develop, and I think they are doing a lot right, but if I'm not mistaken, all this hoopla about a £14m profit is a severe case of "emperor's new clothes" as the true headline figure (as per FT) is a tripling of the operating loss. They have said they're on course for a (presumably real) operating profit next year, and I think that'll be the real test - not much point in trying to float the company unless you can demonstrate a couple of years of profit that doesn't come from selling the family silver.

[CaptJ]

eastern wiseguy.

I don't mind the 146 per se. A bit long in the tooth perhaps. a bit smelly, no room for handbagage. I can live with all that at the right price.

What I can't live with is arriving at the destination to find there was no room on the plane for my check-in bagage.

yes 17Million profit inflated by slot sales, but no money for new planes.

In the cold light of day, FlyBe are being puffed up for a trade sale.

Nobody is going to want to buy with the fleet investment that is required.

[pinhammond]

With those losses looks like the thing is a walking corpse

[excrab]

I may have read the FT article incorrectly, but it seemed that they were reporting a large operating loss converted into an overall smallish profit for the financial year ending march 2004, but when talking about an actual operating profit not bolstered by slot sales they are referring to the first half of the current financial year and their forecasts are for year ending march 2005 (ie the one we are in at the moment).

That being so I fail to see the problem. Perhaps if Cyrano had posted the whole of the article rather than being selective and just copying the bit about the last financial year it would have been a bit more obvious what was being reported - an operating loss for the last financial year and an operating profit forecast for year ending 2005.

I don't think that there is any secret that the walker group want to sell some of it's stake in the company - they have been talking about a flotation for at least 6 years and probably longer.

[Cyrano]

Excrab:

I was mindful of the periodic stricture not just to cut and paste long media articles on PPRUNE; any "selectivity" was down to trying to answer the earlier question. I have no axe to grind for flyBE; I think (as I said) that they've done a lot right and I hope they live long and prosper. I hope the 2005 full year shows a "real" operating profit. But it seems to me that the "£14m profit" headline (referring to FY2003/4) is over-egged, and indeed the 2003/4 operating result before exceptionals is going in the wrong direction (if I understand it right, and please correct me if I'm wrong). But anyway, to make you happy :rolleyes:, here's the whole FT article.

FlyBE on course for operating surplus this year
Kevin Done, Aerospace Correspondent
Published: November 18 2004 02:00 | Last updated: November 18 2004 02:00

FlyBE, the UK regional low-fares airline, more than doubled operating losses in the year ended March 31 but was able to report pre-tax profit thanks to a £17m windfall secured through the joint sale with Air France of take-off and landing slots at Heathrow airport.

The airline is expected to report today that it is on course to make an operating profit in the current year for the first time in five years.

It is seeking to build a record of sustainable profitability following a change of business model to support a possible initial public offering or trade sale within the next two years.

The turnround this year has resulted from a far-reaching restructuring of the group and a transformation of its route network to compete with the low-cost airlines out of the UK regions. FlyBE, formerly known as British European, is the trading name of Walker Aviation. It is privately owned by Jersey-incorporated Rosedale (JW) Investments, one of the Walker family trusts.

It was originally established by Jack Walker, the former steel stockholding millionaire and owner of Blackburn Rovers.

According to its latest annual report, published yesterday, FlyBE's operating loss increased from £4.2m to £9.8m on turnover up 5.7 per cent from £231m to £244m.

However, with the exceptional landing slots credits, the group still achieved a pre-tax profit of £2.9m, up from £302,000 a year earlier.

According to the annual report, the airline increased its passenger volumes last year by 28.3 per cent to 3.6m helped by the development of a new base at Southampton airport and expansion at Exeter airport.

The group has been investing heavily to establish the FlyBE name - launched two years ago - as a national brand, and media and advertising costs jumped by 35.7 per cent last year to £10.4m.

FlyBE said that it had enjoyed a "strong" 2004 summer season that would support a return to an operating profit in the current year, although the group warned that the rise in the price of fuel "will cost us dearly in the future".

[Oshkosh George]

Cyrano,excrab is right. You've quoted figures for the LAST financial year(ended 31 March),which included the slot sale. The 14m profit is THIS half year(ended Sep),and IS purely operating profit.

[Whispermode]

I can confirm that the small profit FY2003/04 was due to the 'transfer' of LHR slots, however the interin profits for FY2004/05 are true operating profits, the first for 5 years.

[Cyrano]

You're quite right. I stand corrected - I got confused between the £14m last year and interim £14m this year. I read it wrong. Sorry... :ugh:

[acm]

Flybe claim they are the "Europe's 3rd largest lowcost airline".
How about AirBerlin, and Germanwings ?

[Whispering Giant]

ACM - how about Airberlin and Germanwings then ??