EasyJet posted preliminary 12 month results today and in brief: Reported Profit Up 21%, Passengers Up 20%, Resilient Business Model -
* Reported PBT up 21% to £62.2m on revenues increased by 17% to £1,091m
* Reported earnings per share up 25% to 10.3p
* Passenger numbers up 20% to 24.3m and load factor improved to 84.5% from 84.1%
* Total revenue per passenger down 2% to £44.82 reflecting increased competition
* Strengthened balance sheet with gross cash of £510m to support future growth
* Expansion to 92 aircraft, 153 routes, and 44 airports, while delivering excellent operational performance
* Move to modern fleet, with retirement of older, less efficient 737-300 aircraft

Commenting on the results and prospects, Ray Webster, Chief Executive, said:

“These are creditable results in challenging market conditions which have affected all airlines. They reflect the resilience of the easyJet business model and have stregthened our position in the European airline market. Both financially and operationally we are stronger than we have ever been before and, despite the high fuel price and degree of competition in the market, we are well placed for the coming year.

“There are good opportunities for us in 2005. We expect to grow our sales through further enhancing our network and growing ancillary revenues. A strong focus on costs and higher aircraft utilisation will improve the business and will partly mitigate the impact of fuel and foreign exchange, which are beyond our control.

“In this first quarter, we expect to see the load factor and total revenue per passenger broadly the same as last year. We continue to have limited visibility in regard to future fares, however we expect the remaining months of winter to be challenging and that competition will be intense. In addition, fuel prices and foreign exchange remain unknown factors.

“Nevertheless, we have a resilient business, operating in a growth market, which we can readily tailor to a variety of market conditions. As such we have considerable confidence in what can be achieved.”
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