Ryanair profits up; announce dividend
01.06.10
Ryanair has reported pre-tax profits of €341m (£289m) for the year to March, bouncing back from its first annual loss last year. The Irish budget airline also plans to pay a one-off dividend totalling €500m in October - the first it has paid. But the disruption caused by volcanic ash, not covered in the results, will cost it about €50m.
Passenger numbers were up 14 percent on last year, while revenue rose 2 percent. The airline said it had performed well during difficult times for the industry as a whole. It said in a statement: ‘We can be proud of reporting a 200 percent increase in profits and traffic growth during a global recession when many of our competitors have announced losses or cutbacks, while some have gone bankrupt.'
The airline benefited significantly from lower oil prices, with fuel costs down 29 percent from the previous year despite passenger and flight growth. Profits would have been higher but for the falling value of the airline's stake in rival Aer Lingus, which meant it wrote off €13.5m. Ryanair said its outlook for the coming year was positive, forecasting an 11 percent rise in passenger numbers and a 10 percent to 15 percent rise in profits.
The results do not cover the recent disruption by volcanic ash, which grounded flights in Europe for almost a week in April. Ryanair said it expected the cost of the disruption to be approximately €50m, with 9400 flights cancelled and the loss of 1.5m passengers.
The airline's chief executive, Michael O'Leary, said Ryanair would be suing a number of European Governments and demanded a change to the regulations on compensating passengers in the event of disruption. He said: ‘These regulations weren't designed for the catastrophic closure of European airspace, they were designed for a fog event over one night at one airport. These regulations have got to be changed.’
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