The Air France pilots’ strike in September boosted easyJet’s revenue by £5 million as passengers switched from the French carrier to the budget airline.
This, combined with a strong finish to the year, is expected to increase easyJet’s pre-tax profit for the year to the end of September to between £575 million and £580 million, the Board announced today.
Previously it had said profits would be £545 million to £570 million.
It expects to declare a dividend based on a pay-out ratio of 40% of profit after tax.
The airline said its fuel bill, which is one of its largest costs, is likely to fall by around £30 million for the first half of the next financial year compared with the six months to March 31, 2014, and it will be down by around £50 million for the full year. In addition, exchange rate movements are likely to have around a £10 million favourable impact for the first half of the year, but over the whole of the 12 month period they are likely to have a £20 million adverse impact.
Over a quarter of seats for the first half of the year have now been sold, slightly more than this time last year.
EasyJet will publish its full year results on 18 November, when it will provide further details on its performance in the 12 months to the end of September.
Commenting on the pre-close statement, chief executive Carolyn McCall said: "easyJet has continued to execute its strategy, delivering another strong performance in the second half of the year.
"This has enabled easyJet to deliver record profits for the fourth year in a row. This will also lead to our largest ever ordinary dividend payment as we are also proposing to increase the proportion of our profits after tax paid in dividends from 33% to 40%.
"We finished the year strongly. Our performance demonstrates our continued focus on cost and progress against all our strategic revenue priorities and further emphasises easyJet’s structural advantage against both legacy and low-cost competition.
"I would like to thank all of our people who have worked so hard. Everyone at easyJet is aligned behind our strategy of offering our passengers low fares to great destinations with friendly service and a focus on cost control which will ensure that we can continue to deliver sustainable growth and returns for our shareholders."
