Flybe Group Regulatory News (FLYB)

Flybe Group plc

18 October 2017

H1 2017/18 UPDATE

Flybe announces that, following a detailed review of aircraft maintenance, it has incurred higher than expected related costs in the first half. This reflects the drive to further improve the reliability of its aircraft, particularly the Bombardier Q400 turboprop, with improvements already being seen.

A full review of the maintenance strategy has now been launched which aims at a significant improvement of aircraft performance and costs.

As a result, adjusted profit before tax is currently expected to be in the range of £5m to £10m for the first half of this financial year (H1 2016/17 adjusted PBT of £15.9m). This is after charging the additional IT costs, as previously announced, of around £6m in the first half of this year related to the development of a new digital platform.

Christine Ourmieres-Widener, said:

"While half-year profits are lower than expected, I am confident that we are still on a clear sustainable path to profitability in line with our stated plan. The increased maintenance costs are disappointing, but we are already addressing these in the second half and remain focused on improving our cost base and reliability performance. Our Sustainable Business Improvement Plan is delivering benefits with the fleet size now reducing, and consequently both yield and load factors are increasing. The net debt, as expected, remains broadly in line with year ended 31st March 2017."

Flybe will announce its Interim Results on 9th November 2017, when further information will be provided.

Notes:

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation ("MAR") EU no.596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement via Regulatory Information Service ("RIS"), this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.