Shares jump 5% as Ryanair eyes 200m passengers

Ryanair shares jumped more than 5% yesterday after the company offered an upbeat outlook, despite Brexit uncertainties, and approved a plan to return another €550m to shareholders.

The airline yesterday reported a solid set of first-half results — covering the six months to the end of September — showing a 7% year-on-year rise in after-tax profit to almost €1.17bn; a 2% jump in revenue to over €4.13bn and a 12% boost in passenger numbers to just under 65m people.

It was the latter figure which formed the basis of management’s positive mood yesterday — the airline last month lowered its full-year profit guidance by 5% — and helped raise the airline’s share price by around 5.3%, to €13.41 and boost its near €17.4bn market value by almost €1bn.