Ryanair increases its earnings outlook

Ryanair predicted it will reach the upper end of its earnings projection this fiscal year.

The airline expects to transport more passengers, and an overhaul aimed at attracting more business- minded clients is also due to take hold. Profit for the full year will be at the upper end of a guidance of €620m to €650m, Ryanair said in a statement at its AGM.

The outlook depends “heavily” on yields in the second half, according to the carrier.

The company predicted traffic will rise to 87m customers this year, compared with a previous guidance of 86m. The airline signed an order for as many as 200 Boeing 737 aircraft this month as it pushes expansion in Europe, benefiting from the woes of established legacy carriers such as Lufthansa and Air France-KLM, which are struggling to make money on shorter routes.

“While still too early to be confident about H2 [ the second half of the fiscal year], fares and yields, the continuing strength of our forward bookings and the improving customer experience leads us to cautiously raise our full year traffic forecast to 87m customers, and our full-year profit guidance towards the upper end of our current €620m to €650m range,” said CEO Michael O’Leary.

“However, the full year profit outturn continues to be heavily dependent on H2 yields over which we have very little visibility at present. We will give an update on Q3 yield performance at our half year results announcement in early November.”

Ryanair shares reached €7.49 in early trading on the Iseq, before finishing the day up 9c to €7.39 in Dublin.

Mr O’Leary added: “Our customers and our shareholders have responded favourably to our improving customer experience, our better digital platform and the positive initial uptake of our Business Plus service.

“We now expect slightly stronger traffic growth in the winter schedule, as we open new bases in primary airports at Cologne, Gdansk, Glasgow, and Warsaw Modlin, as well as significantly increasing flight frequencies and schedules from Dublin to UK cities, and from Dublin to European capitals.”