Ryanair Q1 Profit Climbs On Higher Traffic; Confirms FY18 Forecast - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Irish no-frills airline Ryanair Holdings Plc (RYA.L, RYAAY) reported Monday that its first-quarter profit after tax climbed 55 percent to 397 million euros from last year's 256 million euros. Earnings per share grew 63 percent to 32.66 euro cents from 20.01 euro cents a year ago.

The company attributed the growth in profit to the timing of Easter in first quarter, with no holiday period in the prior year comparative.

Revenues increased 13 percent to 1.91 billion euros from 1.69 billion euros last year.

Traffic grew 12% to 35 million customers from last year's 31.2 million, as Ryanair's lower fares and "Always Getting Better" or AGB programme delivered a record 96% load factor, up 2 percent.

Looking ahead, the company said it continues to guide fiscal 2018 profit after tax in a range of 1.40 billion euros to 1.45 billion euros. This guidance remains heavily dependent on close-in summer bookings, H2 ave. fares, and the absence of any further security events, ATC strikes or negative Brexit developments.

Further, the company said that it is raising FY18 traffic target to 131 million, up 1 million on previous guidance, thanks to the higher first quarter load factors and the completion of winter '17 schedule. After a difficult winter last year, the company said it expects the pricing environment to remain very competitive into H2 where traffic will be higher by approximately 7%.