LONDON (Alliance News) - easyJet PLC said Tuesday revenue for the full-year rose 10.5% to a record GBP4.258 billion as increased demand continues.
The airline reports a 51% rise in full-year profit before tax of GBP478 million, up on the GBP317 million reported last year for the year to September 30 2013, and a 17.4% return on capital employed, up from 11.3% in 2012.
easyJet said its proposed dividend per ordinary share for the year was 33.5 pence, up 55.8% on last year's 21.5 pence per share.
The airline said it has continued to deliver sustainable returns and growth for shareholders, and that by securing its future fleet requirements with Airbus through to 2022 and beyond, it is preparing for future success.
The low-cost carrier reported increased in demand during the year; revenue per seat was up 7% to GBP62.58 , driven by factors such as allocated seating and improvements to the company website, says easyJet. The number of seats flow grew 3.3% to 68 million, attributed to easyJet's, "disciplined approach to capacity," load factors increased by 0.6% to 89.3% and passenger numbers rose by 4.0% to 60.8 million.
Cost per seat, excluding fuel, was up 3.9% at constant currency for the full-year or 5.3% on a reported basis. easyJet said 2% of the cost increase was, "driven by increased charges at regulated airports in Spain and Italy and a further 0.8 percentage point relates to increased disruption and de-icing costs. Inflationary pressures were largely offset by the continued success of the easyJet lean programme."
During the year the firm has introduced allocated seating which has broadened its customer appeal, whilst the legacies have started disaggregating charges with bag fees being imposed and new lower fare bands being introduced on a limited range of seats to try and improve their price perception, said easyJet. The company also said it saw strong revenue performances in the UK, Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy and Portugal.
The firm ended the financial year with GBP1.237 billion cash, up GBP354 million on 2012, and reports adjusted net debt of GBP156 million.
The easyJet board is recommending a return to shareholders of £175 million which will be in the form of a special dividend of 44.1 pence a share, subject to shareholder approval, in addition to the regular ordinary dividend of GBP133 million or 33.5 pence a share based on its existing policy of paying out one third of annual profit after tax.
The firm now hold over a 40~% share of short haul flights in key airports, such as London Gatwick. Following the acquisition of Flybe's slots at Gatwick, easyJet exercised the six remaining aircraft options under the current generation Airbus agreement on 31 October 2013 for delivery in spring 2015.
Carolyn McCall easyJet Chief Executive said in a statement, "easyJet has delivered a strong full-year performance and made significant progress against executing its strategic priorities. The results reflect easyJet's continued structural advantage in the European short-haul market against both the legacy and low cost competition.
"Our disciplined approach to capacity allocation has resulted in a meaningful growth in earnings, profit margin and return on capital employed and we have ended the year with a strong balance sheet and a low level of gearing. As evidence of our continued confidence in the future prospects of the business the Board has recommended to return £308 million to shareholders through the combination of an ordinary and special dividend.
"We will continue to deliver our strategy of offering our customers low fares to great destinations with friendly service so that we can continue to win in a more competitive market. This means we are well placed to continue to deliver sustainable returns and growth for our shareholders."
Looking ahead, the firm said it expects to grow capacity by around 3.5% in the first-half of the year and by 5% for the full-year, noting that forward bookings for 2014 are in line with the previous year. The cost per seat is expected to rise by 2% for the half- and full-year periods, driven by charges at regulated airports and the increased maintenance costs associated with the fleet ageing in the transition to the new generation of Airbus aircraft arriving in the fleet.
The stock is the biggest gainer on the FTSE 100 in early trading with shares leaping from the open. Shares are trading at 1,331.00 pence per share, up 5.97% Monday Tuesday morning.
By Alice Attwood; aliceattwood@alliancenews.com; @AliceAtAlliance
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