Ryanair expects to double after-tax profits

RYANAIR is expecting to double after-tax profits and boost passenger numbers by as much as 15% in its current financial year, even after seeing a near 80% drop in adjusted net profit for the last 12 months and posting its first ever pre-tax loss.

Full-year figures – for the 12 months to the end of March – for the airline showed a 78% annual drop in after-tax profits, from €480.9 million down to €105m. Adjusted earnings per share dropped by the same percentage to 7.1c, while revenue was up by 8% at €2.94 billion. On a pre-tax basis, the airline posted a loss of €169.2m – its first annual loss before tax – down from pre-tax profits of €391m, the year before.

The pre-tax loss figure was attributed both to rising fuel costs and the fact that Ryanair wrote-down its investment in Aer Lingus, last year, by a further €222m to just €93m.