Ryanair on course for €40m profits

RYANAIR is expected to report net profits of nearly €40 million for the first quarter of its financial year when results are revealed next week.

Brokers expect the budget airline to see earnings per share rise by 10.4% to 5.6 cent and net profits of €38.6m. The airline has seen traffic figures more than double this year as result of new routes and bases across Europe and the acquisition of the struggling airline Buzz in January.

According to Davy Stockbrokers the airline will take a hit from the acquisition of Buzz, but expects it to be smaller than €4m.

“The key quarter is Q2, with circa 45% of full-year earnings, so the key focus will be on the trading statement and the outlook for the summer season,” Davy analyst Stephen Furlong said in a note to clients yesterday.

The low fares airlines have been quick to capitalise on the recent industrial relations problem at British Airways, which was hit by a staff walk-out last week with Ryanair and Easyjet picking up 7,600 and 6,000 BA passengers respectively.

Analysts will also be looking for figures from Ryanair on how much fares have decreased during the quarter. Last week Easyjet said trading was ahead but that the airline was having to cut fares to increase passenger growth.

BA releases its first quarter results on Thursday and is forecast to report a loss of €70m. It faces the prospect of more strike action next month and Ryanair can expect to pick up further passengers if this goes ahead.

Separately yesterday BAA, which operates the major airports in Britain including Heathrow, reported year-on-year pre-tax profits for the first quarter were down 11.2% to £127m.

But BAA sounded an optimistic note on its outlook, saying it had started to see an improvement in passenger growth and revenues towards the end of the three-month period.