(Boursier.com) — Ryanair reveals a record annual profit but is quite cautious for the coming months. Europe’s largest airline, which carried a record 184 million passengers in the financial year ended March, stressed it needed to cut fares in the current quarter to boost bookings and expressed “optimism cautious” on the fact that summer peak rates would be stable or slightly higher than last year.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary warned two weeks ago that summer airfares were likely to be lower than the 5-10% increase he still forecast at the end of April. The airline said its lower forecast was heavily dependent on last-minute bookings for the summer. She sees “positive” demand, with bookings ahead of last year, but recent prices are lower than expected.
Over the entire financial year ended, the Irish group generated a net profit of 1.92 billion euros, an increase of 34%, for revenues of 13.44 billion euros (+25%). Operating profit soared by 43% to €2.06 billion. Ryanair had cut its after-tax profit forecast to a range of between €1.85bn and €1.95bn in January after some online travel agencies suddenly stopped selling its flights.
Ryanair also said it would be 23 planes short of the number Boeing was due to deliver by the end of July and that there remained a risk – although “unlikely” – that deliveries would be further delayed. . Ryanair has struggled to get its higher-density Max 200s as Boeing faces scrutiny from regulators, lawmakers and customers after an Alaska Airlines 737 Max suffered a major failure in January. These delays have forced Ryanair to reduce the frequency of certain flights and its annual traffic forecasts. The carrier now hopes to welcome between 198 million and 200 million passengers in the current financial year. However, he says it is too early to provide earnings guidance for the 2025 financial year.
Finally, the company announced a €700 million share buyback program, which it said it plans to officially launch later this week.
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