REG - Wizz Air Holdings - F22 Post-close Trading Statement

Wizz Air HoldingsAnnouncement

14/04/2022 07:16

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RNS Number : 3263I  Wizz Air Holdings PLC  14 April 2022

Press Release

 

Wizz Air Holdings Plc

F22 Post-close Trading Statement

Ticker:  WIZZ

Geneva, 14 April 2022: Wizz Air Holdings Plc ("Wizz Air" or the "Company"),
the fastest-growing and most sustainable European low-cost airline today
provides a post-close trading update for the financial year ending 31(st)
March 2022 ("F22").

Wizz Air expects a reported F22 net loss of €(652)-(632)m. The operating
result for Q4 F22 is expected to be in the range of €(210) - (190)m, ahead
of the guidance provided at the Q3 update behind a stronger trading
environment.

Wizz Air confirms its stable investment grade balance sheet (Baa3 by Moody's
and BBB- by Fitch) and strong liquidity position with a total cash / cash
equivalents balance of €1,379m at year-end.

At the start of F23 (the year ending 31(st) March 2023) the Company is on
track to ramping-up operations and crewing for a busy summer flying programme
when we expect to operate ASKs more than 30% ahead of 2019 in the April - June
2022 quarter and more than 40% ahead of 2019 in the July - September 2022
quarter. We have been encouraged by demand trends in recent weeks and given
the shorter booking horizon expect the bookings for this summer to build
significantly after Easter.

We continue to monitor the situation in Ukraine, Moldova and Russia and whilst
our flights to/from these locations remain suspended we have successfully
reallocated the affected capacity to other parts of our network.

We have made several announcements of new aircraft allocations, additional
routes and frequencies which will come into effect from this summer.

In order to reduce our exposure to volatility in the commodities environment,
the Company has hedged for a coverage of 36% of planned jet fuel volume
consumption from April to August 2022 with an average ceiling price of 1,130
USD/mT.

During F23 our focus will be on maximising revenue and returning to
productivity levels seen during the pre-COVID years, that should result in
improved profitability during this period.

Wizz Air will release audited F22 annual results on 8(th) June 2022.

József Váradi, Wizz Air Chief Executive commented:

"In F22 the aviation industry continued to be impacted by COVID-19. The latest
virus variant, Omicron, proved to be of benign nature, which helped to relax
government travel restrictions across a majority of our network.
Distressingly, the war in Ukraine dented demand for air travel and
destabilized commodity prices across the globe.

 

"Despite these developments we are starting to see recovery take shape as we
move closer to the summer of 2022. The strength of Wizz Air's diversified and
expanded network in combination with the most efficient fleet of aircraft and
the execution against its proven ULCC model, will allow the pre-COVID-19 cost
structure to be achieved - and in this industry lowest cost prevails. In
addition, our continued investments in renewing the fleet enabled us to exceed
F22 CO2/RPK target by 0.4 grams per passenger km setting us on the right path
of reaching our CO2 emission intensity target by 2030 (43 grams per pax km),
unrivalled by any of our European competitors."

 

-Ends-

 

 

ABOUT WIZZ AIR

Wizz Air, the fastest growing European low-cost airline, operates a fleet of
153 Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft. A team of dedicated aviation professionals
delivers superior service and very low fares, making Wizz Air the preferred
choice of 10.2 million passengers in the financial year F21 ending 31 March
2021. Wizz Air is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker WIZZ.
The company was recently named one of the world's top ten safest airlines
by airlineratings.com (http://airlineratings.com/) , the world's only safety
and product rating agency, and 2020 Airline of the Year by ATW, the most
coveted honour an airline or individual can receive, recognizing individuals
and organizations that have distinguished themselves through outstanding
performance, innovation, and superior service.

 

 For more information:

 Investors:  Zlatko Custovic, Wizz Air                               +36 1 777 9407

 Media:      Christie Rawlings, Wizz Air:                            +36 70 685 1583/ +44 7811 155205

                                                                     +44 20 3727 1017

             Edward Bridges / Jonathan Neilan, FTI Consulting LLP:

 

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