Easyjet holds guidance as it eyes £700m profit
Easyjet has doubled down on full-year guidance as forward bookings showed promise ahead of summer.
The low-cost carrier said bookings had been such that it expects to meet a prior target of £703m for annual pre-tax profit.
Headline pre-tax losses came in at £394m, up 13 per cent year-on-year for the six months ended 31 March, a typically loss-making period for airlines.
Revenue increased by eight per cent over the same period as passenger numbers also rose.
Easyjet noted a “seasonally challenging March” had been impacted by higher-than-expected losses from the later Easter and the “necessity for some price stimulation.”
“We are executing well against our strategy, to drive efficiency and enhance our customer experience both in the sky and on the ground,” chief executive Kenton Jarvis said in a statement.
“We remain focused on delivering another record summer this year, expecting to drive strong earnings growth as we continue to progress towards our target of sustainably generating over £1bn of annual profit before tax.”
It comes after Ryanair reported a substantial drop in full-year profit because of lower ticket prices earlier this week.
Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers has also been impacted by delivery delays from the US planemaker Boeing.
Easyjet said on Thursday that the capacity environment heading into summer was “more constrained,” with seat growth forecasts at around one per cent.
The airline’s lucrative holiday arm, Easyjet Holidays, delivered a £13m increase in profit year-on-year to £44m.
Elizabeth Williams, aviation partner at Gowling WLG, said: “Shareholders will be pleased with operations so far under new Chief Executive Kenton Jarvis which has been aided by falling jet fuel prices.
She added Easyjet had shown resilience against a backdrop of “global economic uncertainty,” which had mitigated losses.
“The new routes established by the airline over the past year are now yielding positive results, contributing to increased revenue following initial discounted pricing.”