TIDMEZJ
RNS Number : 9036F
easyJet PLC
18 July 2019
EASYJET TRADING STATEMENT FOR THE QUARTERED - 30 June 2019
easyJet's Q3 performance in line with expectations.
No change to cost and revenue guidance.
Summary
easyJet has delivered a robust performance in the quarter.
Revenue per seat was positive, including a strong late yield
performance which benefitted from easyJet's revenue initiatives as
well as positive ancillary revenue growth and a solid Easter
performance, while cost per seat ex fuel decreased for the quarter
as easyJet made good progress with its underlying cost and
operational performance. This was mainly driven by the continued
focus on operational resilience which is driving improvements in
customer service and significantly fewer long costly delays and
cancellations.
Commenting; Johan Lundgren, easyJet Chief Executive said:
"easyJet's third quarter performance was robust and despite the
tougher macroeconomic conditions was in line with expectations.
Revenue increased by over 11% with RPS increasing through a
combination of successful revenue initiatives, a solid Easter
performance and a focus on late yield initiatives, with passenger
numbers climbing by two million to over 26 million. Our customers
experienced significantly reduced cancellations and long delays
largely as a result of our investment in operational resilience,
which also contributed significantly to driving down cost per seat
ex fuel at constant currency by 4% in the period."
"We were also very proud to win the award for Best Low-Cost
Airline in Europe at the Skytrax World Airlines Awards 2019, the
first time in 9 years."
"We remain very focused on delivering our revenue initiatives
and driving costs down to enhance our profitability per seat. With
second half forward bookings at 78% we have better visibility on
the second half and expect to deliver a profit before tax of
between GBP400 million and GBP440 million, in line with market
expectations."
Revenue
Total revenue for the quarter ending 30 June 2019 increased by
11.4% to GBP1,761 million. Passenger revenue increased by 10.7% to
GBP1,387 million and ancillary revenue increased by 14.3% to GBP374
million.
Passenger(1) numbers in the quarter increased by 8% to 26.4
million, driven by an increase in capacity(2) of 10% to 28.8
million seats. Load factor(3) decreased, as anticipated, by 1.7
percentage points to 91.7%, due to late yield initiatives as well
as high prior year comparatives due to industrial action in France
and Monarch's bankruptcy.
Total revenue per seat increased by 0.7% at constant currency,
in line with expectations. This performance has been driven by:
-- Increases due to:
- A solid yield performance supported in particular by easyJet's
focus on initiatives to optimise late yields and capacity
discipline by competitors on easyJet's markets
- Seasonality - the movement of Easter to the second half of the
financial year (impact of c.GBP40 million), with the later timing
of the Ascension and Pentecost public holidays also having a
positive impact on the quarter
- The move to IFRS 15 accounting (c.GBP10 million revenue benefit in Q3)
- Continued growth in ancillary revenue per seat through better
bag and allocated seating sales
-- Partially offset by:
- Headwinds from one-off prior year revenue benefits, including
the bankruptcies at Monarch and Air Berlin and the impact of French
industrial action
- Softening of demand due to tougher macroeconomic conditions
across Europe as well as Brexit-related consumer uncertainty in the
UK
- A competitive environment and typical new market ramp-up in
Berlin - which is maturing in line with other new bases we have
seen, and showing solid unit revenue improvement
Cost
easyJet's cost performance has been strong and in line with
expectations. Headline cost per seat excluding fuel at constant
currency decreased by 4.0% in the quarter reflecting:
-- Decreases due to:
- Investments in operational resilience continuing to drive down
costs with lower overall levels of disruption, cancellations and
costly delays over three hours
- Wet leasing fewer aircraft, mainly due to the Tegel ramp up in Q3 2018
- Lower employee incentive payment accruals
-- Partially offset by:
- Ownership costs reflecting new aircraft deliveries
- Annualisation of crew pay deals and better than expected crew retention
Customer and operational performance
easyJet has improved its On-Time Performance (OTP) since the
difficult 2018 summer. Despite the air traffic environment
remaining challenging, easyJet's focus for this summer is on
ensuring flight fulfilment and reducing severe delays for its
customers. easyJet experienced 847 cancellations in Q3 2019
compared to 2,606 cancellations in Q3 2018, while delays of greater
than 3hrs decreased by 32% compared to Q3 2018. This helped drive a
strong CSAT score of 72.6% for the quarter.
OTP % arrivals within Apr May Jun Q3
15 minutes
----------------------- ------ ------ ------ ------
2019 80.5% 76.2% 64.7% 73.7%
2018 80.7% 72.3% 65.6% 72.8%
----------------------- ------ ------ ------ ------
Traffic statistics
Load factor was slightly lower than Q3 2018, as expected due to
high prior year comparatives and revenue pricing strategies, with
passenger growth in line with expectations.
Apr May Jun Q3
---------------------- ------ ------ ------ ------
Passengers (million) 8.5 8.9 9.0 26.4
Passenger growth 7.6% 8.3% 8.1% 8.0%
Load factor 90.7% 91.1% 93.3% 91.7%
---------------------- ------ ------ ------ ------
Brexit - Shareholder register update
easyJet has increased its ownership by qualifying EEA (excluding
UK) nationals to 50.6% (as at 30 June 2019).
Should they be necessary easyJet has in place a number of
options to maintain its ownership by qualifying nationals,
including the use of the provisions contained in its Articles of
Association which would permit it to suspend rights to attend and
vote at meetings of shareholders and/or forcing the sale of shares
owned by non-qualifying nationals as well as other potential
actions(6) .
A strong balance sheet
easyJet is financially very strong. During the quarter easyJet
issued a EUR500 million bond under its Euro Medium Term Note
programme which was 3.4 times over-subscribed and carried a coupon
of 0.875%. easyJet's investment grade ratings remain
industry-leading at Baa1 (stable) by Moody's and BBB+ (stable) by
Standard & Poor's.
As part of its focus on driving profit per seat and cash flow
easyJet plans to grow capacity at the lower end of its historic
growth rates in Financial Year 2020, particularly in Winter, which
includes expected fleet growth to reach 332 aircraft by the end of
Financial Year 2019, 349 aircraft by the end of Financial Year 2020
and 352 aircraft by the end of Financial Year 2021(7) .
Management update
easyJet has announced today that Peter Bellew will be joining
easyJet as Chief Operating Officer. He will be a member of the
Airline Management Board and will report to easyJet's CEO, Johan
Lundgren.
Peter joins the airline from Ryanair where he has been Chief
Operations Officer since December 2017, responsible for all aspects
of Ryanair's flight operations.
Outlook
For the year ending 30 September 2019 easyJet expects:
- Full Year capacity to grow by c.10%, H2 capacity to grow by c.7% - unchanged
- H2 revenue per seat at constant currency to be slightly down - unchanged
- Full Year headline cost per seat excluding fuel at constant
currency to be down, assuming normal levels of disruption in Q4 -
unchanged
- Full Year unit fuel bill is likely to be GBP30 million to
GBP50 million adverse(4) . The total fuel bill is expected to be
c.GBP1.4 billion
- Foreign exchange(4) movements will have a c.GBP5 million
adverse impact on headline profit before tax
With 78% of second half seats sold we have better full year
visibility and headline profit before tax for the 12 months to 30
September 2019 is expected to be between GBP400 million and GBP440
million, in line with market expectations(5) .
easyJet remains focused on driving future returns, positive free
cash flow over the longer term and maximising headline profit per
seat as it continues to deliver value for customers and
shareholders.
KEY Q3 FINANCIALS
Three months ended 30 June 2019 30 June 2018 Change
Fav./(adv.)
Passengers (million) (1) 26.4 24.4 8.0%
------------- ------------- -------------
Seats flown (million) 28.8 26.2 10.0%
------------- ------------- -------------
Load factor (%) (3) 91.7 93.4 (1.7ppts)
------------- ------------- -------------
Total revenue (GBP million) 1,761 1,581 11.4%
------------- ------------- -------------
Passenger revenue (GBP million) 1,387 1,253 10.7%
------------- ------------- -------------
Ancillary revenue (GBP million) 374 328 14.3%
------------- ------------- -------------
Total revenue per seat reported
(GBP) 61.22 60.44 1.3%
------------- ------------- -------------
Total revenue per seat constant
currency (GBP) 60.84 60.44 0.7%
------------- ------------- -------------
Total headline cost per seat
reported (GBP) (55.16) (55.45) 0.5%
------------- ------------- -------------
Total headline cost per seat
at constant currency (GBP) (54.49) (55.45) 1.7%
------------- ------------- -------------
Headline cost per seat excluding
fuel at constant currency (GBP) (41.42) (43.14) 4.0%
------------- ------------- -------------
ASKs (million) 32,129 29,041 10.6%
------------- ------------- -------------
RPKs (million) 29,861 27,459 8.7%
------------- ------------- -------------
Average sector length (km) 1,117 1,110 0.6%
------------- ------------- -------------
For further details please contact easyJet plc:
Institutional investors and analysts:
Stuart Morgan Investor Relations +44 (0) 7989 665 484
Michael Barker Investor Relations +44 (0) 7985 890 939
Media:
Anna Knowles Corporate Communications +44 (0) 7985 873 313
Dorothy Burwell Finsbury +44 (0) 207 251 3801
+44 (0) 7733 294 930
Conference call details
Time: 8:00am BST
Standard International Access: +44 (0) 20 3003 2666
UK Toll Free: 0808 109 0700
Password: easyJet
Notes:
1. Represents the number of earned seats flown. Earned seats
include seats that are flown whether or not the passenger turns up
as easyJet is a no-refund airline, and once a flight has departed a
no-show customer is generally not entitled to change flights or
seek a refund. Earned seats also include seats provided for
promotional purposes and to staff for business travel.
2. Capacity based on actual number of seats flown.
3. Represents the number of passengers as a proportion of the
number of seats available for passengers. No weighting of the load
factor is carried out to recognise the effect of varying flight (or
"sector") lengths.
4. Based on fuel spot price range of $575 to $700. US $ to GBP
sterling 1.26, Euro to GBP sterling 1.12
5. Internally compiled, Headline PBT, market consensus as at
July 2019 is GBP423 million
6.
http://corporate.easyjet.com/investors/shareholder-services/eu-share-ownership
7. Includes owned and dry leased aircraft
A copy of this Trading Statement is available at
http://corporate.easyjet.com/investors
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
END
TSTUBSBRKBABAAR
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 18, 2019 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)
Grafico Azioni Easyjet (LSE:EZJ)
Storico
Da Mar 2024 a Apr 2024
Grafico Azioni Easyjet (LSE:EZJ)
Storico
Da Apr 2023 a Apr 2024
