EasyJet has decided to pay dividends for the first time after its pre-tax profit grew by £99.3 million to £154 million for the year to September 30.
Total revenue grew by 11.5% to £2,973.1 million, passenger numbers were up 7.9% to 48.8 million and load factor increased by 1.5ppt to 87.0%
Chief executive Carolyn McCall said: “EasyJet has delivered a robust financial result against a difficult backdrop.
“EasyJet’s solid financial performance in a tough trading environment demonstrates that the business model is strong.”
The airline said it incurred £27.3 million of costs due to the volcanic ash disruption.
Another £20.8 million of costs were incurred due to snow, and £49.8 million of costs (wet leasing and other costs, mainly EU 2004/261 related), were incurred to due strike action by air traffic controllers in Europe and easyJet’s operational difficulties over the summer.
The group said there were “clear opportunities for easyJet to continue to grow profitably and take share of the European short-haul market”.
McCall added: “We see clear opportunities for easyJet to continue to take market share as charter traffic continues to decline, as weaker short-haul carriers retrench or fail and as new infrastructure capacity comes on stream.”
Easyjet plans to add 24 aircraft to a total of 220 aircraft by September 2013.
Shareholders will receive dvidends in 2012.
By Bev Fearis
