AIR.L Regulatory News (AIR)

AIR PARTNER

TRADING STATEMENT

Air Partner plc, the provider of air charter services to industry, governments and private jet clients, is today releasing a Trading Statement ahead of entering a close period on 1 August 2014.

Group trading in the period since the AGM in early June has been weaker than expected primarily due to a poor performance in the Commercial Jet division which has seen a continued absence of material ad hoc projects, despite Air Partner's management continuing to transition the revenue profile of this division away from military contracts.

Trading in the rest of the Group is in line with management expectations with the Private Jet division delivering strong performance across US and UK and in new JetCard sales. The Freight division continues to show progress, albeit from a low base.

Group margins have improved due to the increased contribution from the private jet division in the business mix and the cost base being kept flat. The Group remains debt free and net cash at 31 July 2014 is expected to amount to approximately £19 million (with £11m being JetCard deposits).

The impact of the weak Commercial Jet performance means that the board now believes that the group results for the six months ending 31st July 2014 will be a pre-tax profit of not less than £1.1mn. The board currently expects the second half performance to be in line with prior years. 

The air charter sector has always operated in an environment of limited visibility and late order booking. With many decades of experience operating in this environment, and having identified the specific area of weak performance, we are confident that the long term prospects for the Group remain as robust as ever. Accordingly we will maintain our current investment programme in projects across the business as these are delivering operating efficiencies and improvements and are the key to driving our future profit growth and leadership.

The Board remain fully committed to a progressive dividend policy and intend to declare an interim dividend of 6.66 pence per share, a 10% increase on the comparable period last year.

Results for the half-year ended 31 July 2014 will be announced on 23 September 2014.

Mark Briffa, CEO of Air Partner, commented: "Our first half performance has been impacted by a continued absence of material ad hoc projects in the Commercial Jet division, and we are very disappointed with this. However we remain confident in our overall strategy which is progressing across the private jet division, oil and gas sectors, tour operating division and in the US. We are proactively addressing our performance and cost base to identify areas for improvement in underperforming areas. While the air charter market can be volatile, the overall market remains robust."

28 July 2014

Enquiries:

Air Partner 01293 844788

Mark Briffa, CEO

Neil Morris, CFO

Temple Bar Advisory (Financial PR advisor) 020 7002 1080

Tom Allison (07789 998020)

Joanna Crawford

About Air Partner:

Air Partner is an international provider of aviation services to industry, commerce, governments and individuals worldwide. The company has earned global recognition as a leading aircraft charter broker and organises ad hoc charters of aircraft of every size for any reason. Its three main divisions, supported by a host of support teams, comprise Air Partner Private Jet Broking, Air Partner Commercial Jet Broking and Air Partner Freight Broking. Private Jet Broking offers ad-hoc charter and the company's unique pre-paid JetCard scheme. The Commercial Jet Broking division charters large airliners with 20 to 500 seats for groups of every size. Air Partner Freight Broking charters aircraft of every size to fly any cargo anywhere, at any time. With its headquarters in the UK, the Group was formed in 1961 and is fully listed on the London Stock Exchange. www.airpartner.com

Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements

This document may contain forward-looking statements which are made in good faith and are based on current expectations or beliefs, as well as assumptions about future events. You can sometimes, but not always, identify these statements by the use of a date in the future or such words as "will", "anticipate", "estimate", "expect", "project", "intend", "plan", "should", "may", "assume" and other similar words. By their nature, forward-looking statements are inherently predictive and speculative and involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are not a guarantee of future performance and are subject to factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this document, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.