Ryanair has unveiled a €700m (£599.3m) share buyback programme after its full-year profit soared by over a third due to booming demand for travel. Profit after tax increased by 34 per cent to a record €1.
92bn (£1.6bn) as Ryanair carried 183.7m passengers, up nine per cent year-on-year.
Revenue rose by a quarter to €13.4bn (£11.5bn), boosted by average airfares rising 21 per cent to 49.
8 and a record first half of the year, but its chief executive also warned there could be turbulence ahead. The Irish carrier announced its first ever dividend in November and said today it paid an interim dividend per share of €0.175 in February.
When completed, the buyback programme will increase the funds Ryanair has returned to its investors to over €7.8bn (£6.7bn) since 2008.
Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, has outperformed rivals Easyjet and Wizz Air over the 12 months in what has been a record period of demand for the industry as a whole. But it has been hit harder than most by the issues plaguing Boeing, as its biggest customer and warned on Monday deliveries of its 737 Gamechanger fleet would come in 23 short at the end of July. Chief executive Michael O’Leary said: “We continue to work closely with Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun, CFO Brian West and the new Seattle management team to improve quality and accelerate B737 aircraft deliveries.
“There remains a risk that Boeing deliveries could slip further.” Disruption has also come in the form of French air traffic cont.
