REG - easyJet PLC - Trading Update for quarter ended 31 December 2024

easyJetAnnouncement

22/01/2025 07:00

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RNS Number : 1919U  easyJet PLC  22 January 2025

22 January 2025

easyJet plc

('easyJet')

easyJet Trading Update for the quarter ended 31 December 2024

easyJet improves Q1 performance by 52% YoY

·    Q1 headline loss before tax £61 million, an improvement of £65
million YoY

o  Passenger growth +7% YoY

o  ASK Capacity +11% YoY, with a sector length increase of 6% YoY

o  RASK flat YoY, in line with guidance

o  CASK ex fuel flat YoY, Fuel CASK reduced by 13% YoY driving total CASK
down 4% YoY

o  easyJet holidays delivered £43 million profit, +£12 million YoY

·    H1 underlying winter losses expected to reduce when adjusted for the
timing of Easter and a prior year release of aged balances

o  H1 ASK Capacity +12% YoY (Q2 ASKs +14% YoY)

o  Headline result impacted by Easter timing and a one off prior year release
of aged balances. Q2 underlying unit revenue trends are modestly lower than Q1
due to our capacity investment on longer leisure flows. These are driving
productivity and utilisation benefits this winter with route maturity benefits
expected next winter and beyond

o  Expect H1 headline CASK ex fuel to slightly reduce YoY

o  Expect H1'25 fuel CASK to reduce by c.8% YoY, when factoring in current
fuel spot price

·    Positive outlook for FY25, consistent with consensus(1), and on track
to achieve medium term target of >£1bn PBT

o  Expect FY25 ASK growth of c. 8% YoY

o  easyJet holidays expects c.25% customer growth YoY

o  Forward bookings; Q2 57% sold, +2ppts YoY; Q3 26% sold, +2ppts YoY; Q4 13%
sold, +1ppt YoY

Overview

easyJet's first quarter result significantly improved as demand for our
primary airport network and package holidays continued, alongside cost control
and favourable fuel prices. Six new A320neo family aircraft were delivered and
taken into ownership in the quarter, a seventh aircraft was delivered in
January and another two are expected to be operational by peak summer.

This winter's underlying result will reflect Q1 improvements, partially offset
by Q2 underlying unit revenue trends being modestly lower than Q1, as capacity
investments (Q2 ASKs +14% YoY) are naturally requiring stimulation while
driving productivity and utilisation benefits this winter with route maturity
benefits expected next winter and beyond.

The traditionally busy Easter period is seeing strong demand and bookings
continue to build for Summer 2025. At this early stage of the year, the
current booking trends are supportive of FY25 consensus(1). We remain focused
and confident in the progress towards our medium term target of sustainably
generating over £1 billion of profit before tax.

Kenton Jarvis, CEO of easyJet, commenting on the results said:

"easyJet performed well in the quarter reducing Q1 losses by 52% year on year
while flying 7% more customers to an even greater choice of destinations
across the network. easyJet holidays continued its growth, achieving around a
40% increase in profits during the period.

"Looking to this summer, we have seen continuing demand for easyJet's flights
and holidays where we have one million more customers already booked, with
firm favourites like Palma, Faro and Alicante as well as new destinations like
Tunisia and Cairo proving popular. All of this demonstrates positive progress
towards our medium term target to deliver more than one billion pounds of
profit before tax."

Sustainability

We are the best ESG rated European airline from Sustainalytics (score of
21.4). We hold a best in class rating from CDP (A-) and MSCI (AA rating), and
we also retain our position in FTSE4Good for a second year running. The
efficiencies which we have ahead of us will only strengthen our position.

In the first quarter of FY25 easyJet signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) and a Letter of Intent with Enlive and Moeve for the supply of
sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) covering material requirements in Italy and
Spain over the next 5 years, as we continue to drive progress on our net zero
roadmap. In addition, we have signed a tri-party MoU with Renavia and World
Fuel Services giving easyJet access to material volumes of advanced Bio and
eSAF from 2030.

Outlook

·    At this early stage of the year, current booking trends are
supportive of FY25 consensus(1).

·    H1 underlying winter losses expected to reduce when adjusted for the
timing of Easter and a prior year release of aged balances.

-      Easter moving into Q3'25 (c.£30m) and the prior year release of
aged balances (c.£34m). These combined are worth c.4ppts of RASK reduction
YoY in Q2.

·    Forward bookings; Q2 57% sold, +2ppts YoY; Q3 26% sold, +2ppts YoY;
Q4 13% sold, +1ppt YoY

·    H1'25 total CASK to reduce YoY

·    easyJet holidays expects c.25% customer growth YoY

-      Bookings; H1'25 is 93% sold & H2'25 is 45% sold

·    Expect ASK capacity growth of c.8% in FY25

-      FY25 Seat capacity growth expected to be c.3% YoY to c.103 million
seats (H1 c.45 million, H2 c.58 million)

 

 YoY growth  ASK's  Sector length  Seats
 H1'25       +12%   +6%            +6%
 H2'25       +5%    +5%            +1%
 FY25        +8%    +5%            +3%

 

Fuel & FX Hedging

 Jet Fuel                         H1'25  H2'25  H1'26    USD                                 H1'25  H2'25  H1'26
 Hedged position                  82%    64%    32%      Hedged position                     76%    61%    34%
 Average hedged rate ($/MT)       807    770    755      Average hedged rate (USD/GBP)       1.26   1.27   1.28
 Current spot ($/MT) at 20.01.25  c.795                  Current spot (USD/GBP) at 20.01.25  c.1.22

 

Capacity

During Q1 easyJet flew 24.1 million seats. In the same period last year
easyJet flew 23.0 million seats. Load factor was 88% (Q1 FY24: 86%).

 

Passenger numbers in the quarter increased to 21.2 million (Q1 FY24: 19.8
million).

                          October 2024  November 2024  December 2024  Q1       Q1

                                                                      FY25     FY24
 Number of flights        54,024        35,723         43,349         133,096  128,272
 Peak operating aircraft  324           322            293            324      317

 Passengers  (thousand)   8,554         5,796          6,886          21,236   19,842

 Seats flown (thousand)   9,704         6,491          7,877          24,072   22,994

 Load factor              88.1%         89.3%          87.4%          88.2%    86.3%

Financial Summary

 

                                                                      Q1'25    Q1'24                      Variance favourable/ (adverse)
 Passenger revenue (£'m)                                              1,255    1,133                      11%
 Airline ancillary revenue (£'m)                                      535      486                        10%
 Holidays revenue(2) (£'m)                                            247      181                        36%
 Group revenue (£'m)                                                  2,037    1,800                      13%
 Fuel costs (£'m)                                                     (500)    (516)                      3%
 Airline headline EBITDA costs ex fuel (£'m)                          (1,182)  (1,057)                    (12)%
 Holidays EBITDA costs(2) (£'m)                                       (207)    (153)                      (35)%
 Group headline EBITDA costs (£'m)                                    (1,889)  (1,726)                    (9)%
 Group headline EBITDA (£'m)                                          148      74                         100%
 Airline depreciation & amortisation (£'m)                            (185)    (189)                      2%
 Holidays depreciation & amortisation(2) (£'m)                        (3)      (2)                        (50)%
 Group headline LBIT (£'m)                                            (40)     (117)                      66%
 Airline financing costs excluding balance sheet revaluations (£'m)   (19)                                (90)%

                                                                               (10)
 Holidays financing costs (£'m)                                       6        5                          20%
 Balance sheet revaluations (£'m)                                     (8)      (4)                        (100)%
 Group headline LBT (£'m)                                             (61)     (126)                      52%

 Airline passenger RASK (p)                                           4.16                4.16            0%
 Airline ancillary RASK (p)                                           1.77      1.79                      (1)%
 Total airline RASK (p)                                               5.93     5.95                       0%
 Total airline revenue per seat (£)                                   74.36    70.39                      6%

 Airline headline CASK ex fuel (p)                                    (4.61)   (4.63)                     0%
 Airline Fuel CASK (p)                                                (1.66)    (1.90)                    13%
 Airline total headline CASK (p)                                      (6.27)    (6.53)                    4%
 Airline total headline cost per seat (£)                             (78.70)  (77.22)                    (2)%

 Sector length (km)                                                   1,255    1,182                      6%
 Available seat kilometres (ASK) (millions)                           30,213   27,190                     11%
 Cash and other cash investments (£'bn)                               2.8      1.9                        47%
 Net cash/ (debt) (£'m) *                                             (484)    (485)                      0%

* Net debt is flat year on year due to the final delivery payments for the 22
aircraft delivered in the last 12 months (six in the current quarter) and
pre-delivery payments for the future ramp up in aircraft deliveries.

 

1) Internally compiled consensus for FY25 Headline PBT is £709 million as at
22 January 2025.

2) easyJet holidays numbers include elimination of intercompany airline
transactions

 

For further details please contact easyJet plc:

Institutional investors and analysts:

Adrian Talbot                     Investor
Relations                           +44 (0) 7971 592
373

 

Media:

Anna Knowles                   Corporate
Communications        +44 (0) 7985 873 313

Olivia Peters                     Teneo
                                            +44
(0) 20 7353 4200

Harry Cameron
Teneo
+44 (0) 20 7353 4200

Glossary

·       Available seat kilometres (ASK) - Seats flown multiplied by the
number of kilometres flown.

·       Airline cost per ASK (CASK) - Total Airline costs divided by
available seat kilometres.

·       Airline cost per seat (CPS) - Total Airline costs divided by
seats flown.

·       Airline cost per seat, excluding fuel (CPS ex fuel)- Total
Airline costs adding back fuel costs, divided by seats flown.

·       Load factor - Number of passengers as a percentage of number of
seats flown. The load factor is not weighted for the effect of varying sector
lengths.

·       Headline - measures of underlying performance which is not
impacted by non-headline items.

·       Net cash - Total cash less borrowings and lease liabilities;
cash includes money market deposits and other cash investments but excludes
restricted cash.

·       Non-headline items - Non-headline items are those where, in
management's opinion, their separate reporting provides an additional
understanding to users of the financial statements of easyJet's underlying
trading performance, and which are significant by virtue of their size/nature.

·       Passengers - Number of earned seats flown. Earned seats
comprises seats sold to passengers (including no-shows), seats provided for
promotional purposes and seats provided to staff for business travel.

·       Revenue - The sum of passenger revenue and ancillary revenue,
including package holiday revenue.

·       Revenue per ASK (RASK) - Airline revenue divided by available
seat kilometres.

·       Revenue per seat (RPS) - Airline revenue divided by seats
flown.

·       Seats flown - Seats available for passengers.

·       Sector - A one-way revenue flight.

 

This announcement may contain statements which constitute 'forward-looking
statements'. Although easyJet believes that the expectations reflected in
these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that
these expectations will prove to have been correct. Because these statements
involve risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from
those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

 

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