Ryanair, Europe’s No. 1 airline, today (July 24) reported a 55% rise in Q1 profit to €397m. This result is distorted by the timing of Easter in Q1 with no holiday period in the prior year comparative.  Traffic grew 12% to 35m as Ryanair’s lower fares and “Always Getting Better” (AGB) programme delivered a record 96% load factor.

Q1 (IFRS)	June 30, 2016	June 30, 2017	% Change
Customers (m)	31.2	35.0	+12%
Revenue (m)	€1,687	€1,910	+13%
Profit after Tax (m)	€256	€397	+55%
Net Margin	15%	21%	+6%
Basic EPS (euro cent)	20.01	32.66	+63%

Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary said:

“We are pleased to report this 55% increase in PAT to €397m but caution that the outcome is distorted by the absence of Easter in the prior year Q1. While Q1 ave. fares rose by 1% to just over €40, this was due to a strong April (boosted by Easter) offset by adverse sterling, lower bag revenue as more customers switch to our 2 free carry-on bag policy, and yield stimulation following a series of security events in Manchester and London. Q1 highlights include:

• Traffic up 12% to 35m (LF +2% to 96%)
• fare up 1% to €40.30
• Unit costs down 6% (ex-fuel -3%)
• 10 additional B737-MAX-200 “Game Changers” ordered (now 110 firm & 100 options)
• Over €200m returned to shareholders via share buybacks
• 397 B737’s in fleet at end of Q1

New Routes, Bases & Fleet:

We took delivery of 14 new B737’s in Q1, ahead of the peak summer period. Our new bases in Frankfurt Main (opened in March) and Naples (April) are performing well with strong advance bookings at low fares. The Frankfurt Main base will increase from 2 to 7 aircraft in Sept. We will launch 2 new bases in Memmingen (Munich) & Poznan in the autumn and open 170 new routes for winter ’17.  We continue to see significant growth opportunities for Ryanair across Europe as competitors close bases or move capacity and legacy airlines restructure.

In June we ordered 10 more B737-MAX-200 “Game Changer” aircraft. Five of these will be delivered in spring 2019 and 5 more in spring 2020. In addition, we recently agreed extensions of 10 operating leases which will provide us with 3 more aircraft for S.18 and 10 for S.19. This addresses a temporary capacity shortage in S.19 (before our Boeing MAX deliveries accelerate in Sept. ‘19) and allows us to maintain consistent growth through FY20.

AGB & Labs:

Year 4 of AGB is under way. In May we launched flight connections at Rome Fiumicino, and in July extended it to Milan Bergamo. We have started selling Air Europa long-haul flights from Madrid on our website and have become the exclusive airline partner of the EU Erasmus Student Network.  This partnership will enable Erasmus students to benefit from exclusive flight discounts to suit their budget and will be available from Aug.  From June, our customers who purchase reserved seats now enjoy a 60-day check-in window.  On Ryanair Rooms, we added a 5^th partner, increasing both choice and value for our customers. Ryanair Holidays continues to roll out across our network and went live in Italy and Spain in Q1.

We continue to invest heavily in Travel Labs, and recently opened our 3^rd Lab facility in Madrid which will see us hire up to 250 highly skilled digital professionals in Spain over the next 2 years.  This follows on from the doubling in size of the team in Travel Labs Poland to almost 200 IT professionals earlier this year.

Our industry leading on-time performance improved in Q1 to 89%.  We work hard to ensure that our customers enjoy punctual flights and we continue to campaign with our partners in A4E (Airlines for Europe) to encourage the EC to take action to ameliorate the impact of ATC strikes on overflights in Europe.

Punctuality	Apr.	May	Jun.	Q1
FY17	91%	89%	81%	87%
FY18	91%	90%	88%	89%

Costs:

The cost gap between Ryanair and competitor airlines continues to widen.  We delivered a 6% unit cost reduction in Q1 as our fuel bill fell despite a 12% increase in traffic.  Ex-fuel unit costs, helped by weaker sterling (which will, we believe, be reversed in H2 due to more difficult y-o-y comparisons), fell by 3% as we delivered unit cost reductions across nearly all cost lines.  We remain on-track to deliver our previously guided ex-fuel unit cost reduction of 1% in FY18.

Our FY18 fuel is 90% hedged at approx. $49pbl and will deliver significant savings this year.  We took advantage of recent price dips to increase our H1 FY19 hedging to approx. 45% at $48pbl.  We expect these fuel savings will be passed back to Ryanair customers through lower fares.

Brexit:

We remain concerned at the uncertainty which surrounds the terms of the UK’s departure from the EU in March ’19. While we continue to campaign for the UK to remain in the EU Open Skies agreement, we caution that should the UK leave, there may not be sufficient time, or goodwill on both sides, to negotiate a timely replacement bilateral which could result in a disruption of flights between the UK and Europe for a period of time from April ’19 onwards.  We, like all airlines, seek clarity on this issue before we publish our summer 2019 schedule in the second quarter of 2018.  If we do not have certainty about the legal basis for the operation of flights between the UK and the EU by autumn 2018, we may be forced to cancel flights and move some, or all, of our UK based aircraft to Continental Europe from April ’19 onwards.  We have contingency plans in place and will, as always, adapt to changed circumstances in the best interests of our customers and shareholders.

Balance Sheet & Shareholder Returns:

Ryanair’s balance sheet remains one of the strongest in our industry.  In May the Board approved a €600m ordinary share buyback programme.  In Q1 we spent €165m under this buyback at an ave. price of €18.20. We also purchased €39m worth of ADR’s under the €150m “Evergreen” ADR buyback programme launched last Feb.  Despite this cumulative spend of over €200m on buybacks and capex of almost €400m in Q1, we reduced net debt by €150m from €244m at Mar. 31 to €94m at Jun. 30.

Outlook:

As previously guided, Q1 results were substantially boosted by the presence of Easter in April but not in the prior year comparable.  While the H1 outcome remains dependent on close-in Q2 summer bookings, we continue to guide H1 ave. fares down approx. 5% as we grow  H1 traffic by almost 11% and checked bag revenue continues to steeply decline.  Thanks to the higher Q1 load factors and the completion of our winter ’17 schedule, we are raising our FY18 traffic target to 131m (up 1m on previous guidance).  After a difficult winter last year, we expect the pricing environment to remain very competitive into H2 where we will grow traffic by approx. 7%.  Yield visibility into H2 is zero and we see no reason at this time to alter our H2 ave. fare guidance of an 8% decline.

Ex-fuel unit costs are on track to deliver a 1% reduction this year, and our fuel hedging should deliver savings of approx. €70m, when adjusted for volume growth, which is being passed on to customers in lower fares.  Ancillary revenue continues to grow in line with traffic as we discount pricing to drive penetration in products such as Ryanair Rooms, Ryanair Holidays and the PLUS bundles (which are reported in scheduled revenue).

Based on the above, we continue to guide FY18 PAT in a range of €1.40bn to €1.45bn. This guidance remains heavily dependent on close-in summer bookings, H2 ave. fares, and the absence of any further security events, ATC strikes or negative Brexit developments.”

 

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (14 July) welcomed a United States District Court ruling against an anonymous Twitter user who posted a bomb threat last year.

Ryanair obtained a number of subpoenas from Twitter, which helped identify Brian Lake from Pennsylvania as the person responsible for posting the threat in February 2016, using the handle @GunnexGod.

The tweet read, “Hello @Ryanair, you have 15 minutes before I commit the biggest terror attack the UK has ever seen on one of your planes. Be ready”. Ryanair filed extortion and defamation proceedings in the US earlier this year.

The US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania this week ruled in Ryanair’s favour and awarded $284,148 in damages (including punitive damages). Ryanair welcomed the ruling and reiterated that it will not allow any individual or group to threaten or impugn its industry leading safety record.

Ryanair’s Robin Kiely said:  

“We welcome this US District Court ruling. The safety of our customers, people and aircraft is our number one priority and we will not allow anyone to impugn, threaten or undermine our 32-year unblemished safety record and will pursue any ‘anonymous’ social media offenders through the courts.”

Ryanair, Europe’s No 1 airline, today (11 July) urged its customers to comply fully with its cabin bag rules as it enters its busiest ever summer season. Ryanair customers enjoy one of the most generous cabin bag rules in Europe and may bring one 10kg cabin bag and one smaller bag onboard. However, given Ryanair flights are 95% full this summer, customers have been reminded they must comply with the following bag rules:

Cabin bags – The maximum dimensions for cabin bags are:

• 1 normal cabin bag(55cm x 40cm x 20cm in size and 10kg in weight)
• 1 small bag(handbag, laptop bag, airport shopping bag etc)

Due to overhead locker cabin space limitations, only 90 normal cabin bags (55 x 40 x 20 cms) can be carried in the cabin and any remaining normal cabin bags can be carried free of charge in the aircraft hold. Both carry-on bags must fit in the sizer at the boarding gate and any oversized cabin bags will be refused, or where available, placed in the aircraft hold for a fee of £50/€50.

Priority Boarding:

Customers who purchase Priority Boarding are guaranteed to get their bag on board as they board the aircraft first. Priority Boarding can be added to a booking from just €5. Customers travelling on short 2-4 day breaks who wish to ensure their cabin bag doesn’t go in the hold, are advised to add Priority Boarding.

Check-in bags:

Customers who are travelling on holidays for longer periods and who wish to bring larger than 10kg bags are advised to select checked-in bags and check their luggage into the hold.

Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs said:

“Customers are permitted to bring a normal cabin bag and a smaller bag onboard and the allowance of a second bag has been one of our most popular “Always Getting Better” improvements. However, we’ve noticed some customers are bringing larger than permitted bags onboard, which can cause delays, and our policy may be reviewed should this practice continue. 

As we enter the peak summer period with many full flights, we urge customers to ensure that they travel with less carry-on bags where possible. Our aircraft can only carry 90 larger carry-on bags and our gate agents will rigorously enforce our carry-on policy to avoid flight delays and ensure an enjoyable travel experience for all customers. Any customers who wish to carry larger baggage are advised to purchase a checked-in bag.”

OVER 250,000 SEATS ON 900 ROUTES FOR TRAVEL IN OCT & NOV

Ryanair, Europe’s No 1 airline, today (11 July) launched a huge winter seat sale, with over 250,000 seats on more than 900 routes on sale from just €9.99, for travel in October and November, ensuring even more savings for customers this winter.

These amazing €9.99 seat sale fares are available now but must be booked before midnight Wednesday (12 July) and can only be found on the Ryanair.com website.

Ryanair’s Robin Kiely said:

“Winter is on its way and we’ve launched a huge seat sale with over 250,000 seats on sale from just €9.99 on more than 900 routes, for travel in October and November, only on the Ryanair.com website. This amazing offer will end at midnight Wednesday (12 July) so customers should log on quickly and bag a bargain winter getaway today.”

Load Factor Jumps 2% To 96% On Lower Fares

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (4 July) released June traffic statistics as follows:

• Traffic grew 12% to 11.8m customers.
• Load factor rose 2% points to 96%
• Rolling annual traffic to June grew 13% to 123.8m customers.

 

	Jun 16	Jun 17	Change
Customers	10.6M	11.8M	+12%
Load Factor	94%	96%	+2%

 

Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs said:

“Ryanair’s June traffic grew by 12% to 11.8m customers, while our load factor jumped 2% points to 96%, on the back of lower fares and the continuing success of our “Always Getting Better” customer experience programme.

Customers can still avail of great fares for low cost summer breaks and make advance bookings for winter 2017, so there’s never been a better time to book a low fare flight on Ryanair and we urge all customers who wish to book their holidays to do so now on the Ryanair.com website or mobile app, where they can avail of the lowest fares in Europe.”

RYANAIR TO SEEK REFUND OF €15M IN TAXES/FINES FROM THE FRENCH SOCIAL SECURITY AUTHORITIES WHO MUST NOW ACCEPT IRISH A1 CERTIFICATES

Ryanair, Europe’s No. 1 airline today (27 April) welcomed the decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in the “A Rosa” case which has upheld the EU rules on social insurance payments for international transport workers. The ECJ has determined that A1 certificates issued by one EU member state (Ireland in the case of Ryanair) which confirms the social insurance status of an international transport worker, must be accepted by all other EU member states (including France who to date have refused to accept them).

This ECJ ruling confirms that the French Social Insurance Authorities have acted unlawfully over the past 10 years by double charging Ryanair, and its people, who were based temporarily in Marseille, but who had already fully paid their social insurance in Ireland in accordance with EU regulations. Following this ruling Ryanair will now pursue a full refund of the €10m (plus interest) it has paid in double taxes to the French State between 2006 to 2010 following French Court rulings which completely ignored these EU rules and Irish A1 certificates.

The “A Rosa” ruling also renders null and void the 2017 attempt by the French State to pursue Ryanair for social insurance payments for its pilots and cabin crews who were operating on temporary summer schedules from Marseille between 2011 and 2014. Yet again in this case the French Authorities have ignored the EU rules and ordered Ryanair to double pay €5m of social insurance taxes – that have already been validly paid in Ireland – even before the Court case had been heard. Ryanair’s lawyers will be calling on the Marseille investigating magistrate to abandon this investigation which flies in the face of EU social insurance rules, and this ECJ ruling in the “A Rosa” case.

A similar double tax situation also exists in Italy where there are several outstanding claims from 2006 to 2011 being pursued by the Italian Authorities for payment of Italian social insurance when these social contributions have already been paid by Ryanair’s pilots and cabin crew in Ireland. Ryanair’s lawyers will be writing to the Italian authorities to withdraw these claims as they now have no prospect of success given the clear ruling of the European Courts.

Ryanair’s Chief People Officer Eddie Wilson said:

“We welcome this ruling in the “A Rosa” case which upholds the existing EU rules on social insurance payments for international transport workers, and exposes the unlawful attempt by the French (and to a lesser extent the Italian) Authorities, to threaten and blackmail Ryanair for the double payment of social insurance in the case of pilots and cabin crew who have already paid their social insurance contributions in Ireland, in full compliance with EU rules.

Ryanair will now be pursuing a full refund of €15m (plus interest) from the French Authorities who have repeatedly and unlawfully pursued Ryanair, its pilots and cabin crew in Marseille, by ignoring EU regulations, and the validly issued Irish A1 certificates. We will also be pursuing the French Authorities for interest on these payments which were demanded illegally by the French Authorities who were aware of, but ignored, both EU rules and the Irish A1 certificates despite being warned by the European Commission that they cannot do so.

We expect the French Authorities will now process these refunds expeditiously given that their attempts to force Ryanair to double pay social insurance in breach of EU rules have now been struck down by this very welcome ECJ ruling”.  

 

Ryanair today (8 Feb) announced that it has issued a 6.5 year, €750m, Eurobond at a fixed coupon of 1.125%. Ryanair is rated BBB+ (stable) by both Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings. These ratings reflect the ratings of Ryanair’s business model which as a long established track record of profitability, cash generation, and an industry leading balance sheet. The bond will be listed on the Irish Stock Exchange which offers access to both Europe and the rest of the world. The joint bookrunners were BNP Paribas, Citigroup and Crédit Agricole.

Ryanair’s Chief Financial Officer, Neil Sorahan said:

“We are pleased to have accessed the low cost Eurobond markets again. This €750m transaction was keenly priced at a fixed coupon of 1.125% p.a. This low cost finance will enable us to further reduce our aircraft ownership costs while continuing to offer the lowest fares and best customer service through our Always Getting Better programme as we grow to 200m customers p.a. by 2024.”