 profits dropped 17.3 percent following a "difficult year for the aviation industry". Pre-tax profits were £408 million){kind=link}
EasyJet (LON:EZJ) profits dropped 17.3 percent following a “difficult year for the aviation industry”.
Pre-tax profits were £408 million for the year ending 30 September. This time last year revenue rose 8.1 percent to £5 billion.
“EasyJet’s model is resilient and sustainable and we now have a huge amount of positive momentum,” said chief executive Carolyn McCall.
“We are hedged on currency, but the devaluation was quite significant on 24 June 2016. We started the year knowing exactly that, there was no surprise there for the market.”
Passenger numbers this year reached record figures. The budget airline took 80 million passengers over the course of the year – a growth of 8.5 percent.
EasyJet recently announced a €40 million deal with Air Berlin (ETR:AB1), which will be completed in December. The deal will see EasyJet take on an extra 25 aircrafts as well as up to 1,000 Air Berlin crew members and other assets.
The airline is expecting £100 million in one-off costs associated with the deal. This will reflect the “parallel ramp up of a dry lease operation, including fleet conversion and staff recruitment and training costs, as well as transaction costs”.
Carolyn McCall, who is soon leaving to work at ITV, said: Our planned approach of achieving number one or two positions at Europe’s leading airports, friendly and efficient customer service and a continuous focus on sustainable cost control has put EasyJet at a strategic advantage during a period when there have been bankruptcies and some airlines have struggled operationally.
“EasyJet’s model is resilient and sustainable and we now have a huge amount of positive momentum which will enable the airline to continue to grow profitably.”
McCall will be replaced later this year by Johan Lundgren, currently a senior executive at Tui. Shares in the company rose 0.7 percent at the news.