REG - easyJet PLC - Trading update for three months ended 30 June 2022

easyJetAnnouncement

26/07/2022 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20220726:nRSZ6771Ta&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 6771T  easyJet PLC  26 July 2022

26 July 2022

 

easyJet plc

Trading statement for the three months ended 30 June 2022

 

easyJet's key areas of transformation continue to deliver, with Q3 financial
performance improved despite costs from industry wide operational issues

·    Q3 group headline loss before tax of £114m, included:

o  £133m cost impact from disruption

o  £36m loss from FX balance sheet revaluations

·    Q3 headline EBITDAR profit of £103m (Q3 FY19: £313m)

·    easyJet's transformation continues to deliver

o  Network optimisation driving positive demand with Q4 load factors booked
slightly ahead of FY19

o  Step-changed ancillaries continuing to deliver with Q3 ancillary yield 55%
above FY19

o  easyJet holidays generated £16m profit in the quarter

·    easyJet is currently c.83% hedged for fuel in Q4 at c.US$705 per
metric tonne

 

Summary

In Q3 easyJet flew 22m passengers(1), more than seven times higher than the
same period last year, representing 87% of FY19 capacity. Load factors
continued to build over the quarter, reaching highs of 92% in June. The
unprecedented ramp up across the aviation industry, coupled with a tight
labour market, has resulted in widespread operational challenges culminating
in higher levels of cancellations than normal. Despite this, easyJet operated
95% of its planned schedule in Q3.

Action taken to remove capacity and build resilience into Q4, due to caps
imposed by London Gatwick and Amsterdam Schiphol alongside wider challenges
within Europe has resulted in July operations to date being much improved.
easyJet remains focused on ensuring smooth operations this summer and will
continue to fine tune our schedule if required.

Airline ancillary yield per passenger of £22.07 continues to outperform pre
pandemic levels, up 55% on the same period in 2019. easyJet holidays generated
£16m of profit in the quarter as it carried 0.4 million customers, passing
its previous highest profit of £10m(4) in a full year. The holidays business
remains on track to carry 1.1m passengers in the full year.

Bookings have built through the quarter as demand for easyJet's leading
network remains solid. Q4 is currently 71% booked, load factor slightly ahead
of 2019 and sold ticket yield is 13% above FY19.

easyJet is seeing yields track positively through the first half of FY23, with
October half-term currently booked in line with FY19 on capacity at 95% of
FY19 levels.

Commenting, Johan Lundgren, easyJet Chief Executive said:

"Delivering for customers this summer remains our highest priority. During the
quarter we carried seven times more customers than the same time last year and
operated 95% of our schedule. We have taken action to build the additional
resilience needed this summer and the operation has now normalised.

"Despite the loss this quarter due to the short-term disruption issues, the
return to flying at scale has demonstrated that the strategic initiatives
launched during the pandemic are delivering now and with more to come. This
includes a step-change in ancillary yields, increasing 55% versus the same
period in 2019, and a record profit of £16m generated in the quarter by
easyJet holidays which is on track to serve 1.1 million customers in the full
year.

"easyJet expects capacity to be c.90% of Q419 across our network of major
European airports, with load factors targeted above 90%."

 

Capacity

During Q3 easyJet flew 87% of FY19 capacity(2), in line with the guidance and
a significant increase on the same period last year where easyJet flew 16% of
FY19 capacity. Load factor was 88%, as guided, due to increasing customer
demand post travel restrictions easing.

 

Passenger(1) numbers in the quarter increased to 22.0 million (Q3 FY21: 3.0
million).

 

                           April   May     June            Q3       Q3

                           2022    2022         2022       FY22     FY21
 Number of flights         44,917  48,335  46,793          140,045  24,682

 Passengers (thousand)(1)  6,932   7,424   7,645           22,001   2,985

 Seats flown (thousand)    8,034   8,596   8,306           24,936   4,495
 % of FY19 capacity flown  86%     88%     86%             87%      16%

 Load factor (3)           86%     86%     92%             88%      66%

 

Financials

Total group revenue for the quarter ending 30 June 2022 increased to £1,755
million (Q3 FY21: £213 million). Passenger revenue increased to £1,152
million (Q3 FY21: £152 million) and ancillary revenue increased to £603
million (Q3 FY21: £61 million) primarily due to the increase in capacity
flown. Airline ancillary revenue per seat of £19.47 (Q3 FY21: £13.14)
continues to benefit from cabin bags and bundles delivering incremental
revenue.

 

Group headline costs for the quarter ending 30 June 2022 were £1,869 million
(Q3 FY21: £531 million), primarily driven by the higher level of capacity
flown compared to the same period last year as well as the operational
challenges seen through the period which have resulted in £133m of disruption
costs.

 

Group headline loss before tax for the quarter ending 30 June 2022 was £114
million, a £204 million improvement compared to the £318 million loss in Q3
FY21. Included in the headline loss was a £36 million loss from balance sheet
FX revaluations.

 

easyJet continues to have a strong investment grade balance sheet and has one
of the lowest net debts in European aviation. As at 30 June 2022, easyJet's
net debt was £0.2 billion (31 March 2022: £0.6 billion) including cash and
cash equivalents and money market deposits of £3.9 billion.

 

Disruption management and current operations

As previously disclosed, proactive action was taken to build in additional
resilience including the consolidation of capacity in Q3 and Q4, in
conjunction with other measures. Given easyJet's high frequency network, over
70% of affected customers were moved onto an alternate flight within 24 hours.

 

We believe that these capacity/cost impacts are a one-off this summer as we
would expect all parties to build greater resilience in time for 2023 peak
periods.

 

Slot addition

During the third quarter easyJet won 18 daily slots (9 slot pairs) at Lisbon
airport, achieving growth in a highly slot constrained airport. These slots
will result in easyJet becoming the second largest airline at the airport. The
additional capacity enabled by the new slots will be deployed starting in
October.

 

Approved aircraft purchase

After obtaining shareholder approval earlier this month, easyJet has agreed to
purchase an additional 56 A320neo family aircraft for delivery between FY26
and FY29, as well as converting 18 planned deliveries of A320neo aircraft to
18 A321 neo aircraft. These aircraft will continue the modernisation of the
easyJet fleet, delivering both cost and sustainability benefits to easyJet, as
well as facilitating further up-gauging of the fleet.

 

Sustainability

easyJet has signed a Letter of Intent with Airbus to support the development
of carbon removal technology and to explore the opportunity to secure a future
supply of carbon removal credits from direct air capture technology.

In addition, easyJet and Rolls-Royce announced a ground-breaking new
partnership to develop technology for hydrogen combustion engines with the
potential to power narrow body aircraft. Both parties have agreed to work
together on a series of engine tests on the ground starting later this year,
and also have a shared ambition to take the technology to the air.

easyJet has committed to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and we
believe that zero carbon emission technology will ultimately enable us to
achieve "net-zero" flying. easyJet remains committed to net zero and will
announce its Net Zero Pathway later this year.

Outlook

easyJet currently expects capacity in Q4 to be c.90% of Q4'19 with load
factors above 90%. easyJet's Q4 schedule is now 71% booked, 1ppt ahead of this
point in FY19. Q4 sold ticket yield is currently 13% above FY19.

 

easyJet is currently c.83% hedged for fuel in Q4 of FY22 at c.$705 per metric
tonne, c. 60% hedged for fuel in H1 of FY23 at c. $784 per metric tonne and c.
33% hedged for fuel in H2 of FY23 at c. $879 per metric tonne. The spot price
on 22 July 2022 was around $1,090.

 

For further details please contact easyJet plc:

Institutional investors and analysts:

Michael Barker                  Investor
Relations                           +44 (0) 7985 890
939

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

 

Media:

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

Edward Simpkins              FGS Global
 
+44 (0) 7947 740 551 / (0) 207 251 3801

Dorothy Burwell               FGS Global
 
+44 (0) 7733 294 930 / (0) 207 251 3801

 

A copy of this Trading Statement is available at
http://corporate.easyjet.com/investors
(http://corporate.easyjet.com/investors)

 

Notes

1.       Represents the number of earned seats flown. Earned seats include
seats that are flown whether or not the passenger turns up as easyJet is a
no-refund airline, and once a flight has departed a no-show customer is
generally not entitled to change flights or seek a refund. Earned seats also
include seats provided for promotional purposes and to staff for business
travel.

2.      Capacity based on actual number of seats flown.

3.      Represents the number of passengers as a proportion of the number
of seats available for passengers. No weighting of the load factor is carried
out to recognise the effect of varying flight (or "sector") lengths.

4.       easyJet holidays highest FY profit of £10m was in FY13 and
includes hotel only commission, this was under the prior business model

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  TSTUVVNRUOUBUAR