Ryanair to Buyback Shares After Earnings Rise

By Pierre Bertrand

Ryanair Holdings said it would buyback shares after earnings and passengers rose in during its fiscal year.

The Irish low-cost carrier said that it would buy back 700 million euros ($760.9 million) worth of shares after average fares, per passenger revenues and ancillary revenues rose.

Pre-exceptional profit after tax--the company's preferred metric--came to EUR1.92 billion for the year ended March 31, a 34% increase from a year ago on revenue that rose 25% to EUR13.44 billion.

Analysts' had expected EUR13.37 billion in revenue, according Visible Alpha consensus. In January, Ryanair guided for pre-exceptional after-tax profit in the range of EUR1.85 billion to EUR1.95 billion.

Ryanair's results come after the carrier had cancelled almost 950 flights in March due to disruption from the Israel-Hamas war and amidst a year marked by European air traffic controller strikes and Boeing plane-delivery delays.

Nevertheless, 183.7 million number of passengers flew on Ryanair in the year, a 9% increase, while the company's load factor--a measure of how full a plane is--stood at 94% compared with 93% a year ago.

It added that summer demand was positive, with bookings trending ahead of last year, though added that pricing was softer than expected.

Write to Pierre Bertrand at pierre.bertrand@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 20, 2024 01:44 ET (05:44 GMT)

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