Profits boost leads to Easyjet shareholder dividend

Low-cost airline easyJet marked better-than-expected profit figures today by announcing plans to pay a dividend to shareholders for the first time.

New chief executive Carolyn McCall reported pre-tax profits of £154m (€181m) in the year to September 30 – an increase of £99.3m (€117m) after sales rose by 11.5% to £3bn (€3.54bn), with passenger numbers up 8% to 48.8 million.

The airline’s strong results were achieved despite disruption caused by the Icelandic volcano that meant easyJet had to cancel 7,314 flights, disrupting 960,000 passengers.

The plan to pay a dividend next year should appease founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou, whose family controls around 38% of the shares and has long called for the easyJet board to start payments to shareholders.