LONDON (Alliance News) - easyJet PLC on Tuesday reported growth in profit in its recently-ended financial year as revenue rose and it carried more passengers than the prior year, while it said the long-term outlook for the business is positive.
The low-cost airline said pretax profit in the year ended September 30 grew 18% to GBP686 million from GBP581 million the year before, as revenue rose 4% to GBP4.68 billion from GBP4.52 billion.
easyJet said passengers increased 6% in the year to 68.6 million, with a record load factor in August of 94.4%. Annual load factor increased by 0.9 percentage point to 91.5%.
Total revenue per seat sell by 1.3% to GBP62.48, although it grew by 1.5% on a constant currency basis.
easyJet will pay a total dividend of 55.2 pence per share for the year, a 22% increase on the 45.4p it paid the prior year.
"Our outlook for the longer term is positive. We expect demand in our markets to be sustained and for easyJet to continue to be a winner in its markets. We will see passenger growth of 7% a year, sustaining margins through rigorous cost control and the benefit of fleet up-gauging, resulting in positive profit momentum," Chief Executive Carolyn McCall said in a statement.
"We remain totally focused on our network advantage, digital leadership and offering our customers great low fares and service. We continue to invest in profitable growth, ensuring our digital advantage and giving our customer good value fares," she added.
By Karolina Kaminska; karolinakaminska@alliancenews.com @KarolinaAllNews
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