DJ Trading Update for the six months ended 31 March 2024
easyJet plc (EZJ)
Trading Update for the six months ended 31 March 2024
18-Apr-2024 / 07:00 GMT/BST
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18 April 2024
easyJet plc
('easyJet')
easyJet Trading Update for the six months ended 31 March 2024
easyJet reduces winter losses by >GBP50 million year-on-year as demand for our flights and holidays continues to build
well for summer
-- Strong revenue performance in Q2
- Passengers1 +8% YoY
- RPS +8% YoY- ahead of mid-single digit guidance
- Load factor -1ppt YoY
- Ticket yield +9% YoY
- Ancillary yield +10% YoY
-- Winter FY24 loss reduced by >GBP50 million YoY
- H1 RPS +5% YoY
- H1 CPS ex fuel flat YoY - in line with guidance
- easyJet holidays c. GBP31 million PBT, +206% YoY
- Headline loss before tax expected to be GBP340 - GBP360 million
-- Capacity growth on track
- H2'24 c.59m seats on sale, c.8% increase YoY
- Q3 Capacity on sale c.28m, c.8% increase YoY
- Q4 Capacity on sale c.31m, c.7% increase YoY
-- Positive outlook for FY24
- Q3 Airline RPS expected to be slightly up YoY, with the Easter peak falling into March
- Q4 Airline RPS remains well ahead YoY with c. 30% of the program sold
- Continue to expect H2 CPS ex fuel to be up low single digits YoY
- easyJet holidays continues to expect >35% customer growth YoY in FY24
Summary
easyJet has reduced its first half "seasonal" losses, with headline loss before tax expected to be between GBP340 and
GBP360 million. This improvement was driven by targeted capacity growth where demand was strongest, alongside
productivity and utilisation benefits which enabled ex-fuel unit costs to remain flat year-on-year. The result was
achieved despite headwinds from fuel cost (per seat inflation of +6%) and the conflict in the Middle East which
resulted in a direct impact2 of c. GBP40 million in H1'24. Flying into Israel has now been suspended for the summer with
this limited capacity (c.0.3% of planned summer flying) being redeployed across the network. We continue to drive
growth at easyJet holidays, with GBP31 million of profit before tax (+206% compared to H1'23) and 42% customer growth
year-on-year.
Easter demand was particularly strong, benefitting March due to its early timing. Operational performance was good with
peak daily flights broadly in line with summer levels. On-Time Performance (OTP) over Easter improved year-on-year as a
result of easyJet's targeted resilience actions.
Bookings for summer 2024 continue to build well, with an increase in volume and pricing compared to the same period
last year, underpinned by strong demand for easyJet's primary airport network. Q3'24 currently has c. 60% of the
program sold, +1ppt and Q4'24 is c. 30% sold, +2 ppts year-on-year. easyJet holidays has currently sold 70% of the plan
for this summer.
Johan Lundgren, CEO of easyJet, said:
"The importance that consumers place on travel coupled with easyJet's trusted brand has driven good demand for our
flights and holidays. Our growth and focus on productivity have reduced winter losses by more than GBP50 million.
"We have further enhanced our network with the launch of new bases in Alicante and Birmingham providing greater choice
for consumers across Europe.
"We are well set up operationally for this summer season where we expect easyJet to be one of the fastest growing major
airlines in Europe and take more customers on easyJet holidays than ever before."
Fuel & FX Hedging
Jet Fuel H2'24 H1'25 USD H2'24 H1'25
Hedged position 69% 43% Hedged position 70% 46%
Average hedged rate (USD/MT) USD822 USD825 Average hedged rate (USD/GBP) 1.25 1.25
Current spot (USD/MT) at 17.04.23 c. USD865 Current spot (USD/GBP) at 17.04.23 c. 1.25
Capacity
During Q2 easyJet flew 19.3 million seats, in line with guidance, a 9% increase on the same period last year when easyJet flew 17.7 million seats. Load factor was 87% (Q2 FY23: 88%).
Passenger1 numbers in the quarter increased to 16.8 million (Q2 FY23: 15.6 million).
March Q2 Q2
January 2024 February 2024
2024 FY24 FY23
Number of flights 27,756 36,630 42,828 107,214 99,273
Peak operating aircraft 275 278 297 297 267
Passengers1 (thousand) 4,216 5,767 6,861 16,844 15,631
Seats flown (thousand) 5,008 6,596 7,720 19,324 17,692
Load factor 3 84% 87% 89% 87% 88%
Revenue, Cost and Liquidity
Total group revenue and headline costs for the first half are expected to be around GBP3,270 million and around GBP3,620 million respectively. Pricing was very strong at the start of the period, with October seeing RPS of +12% year-on-year. However, the onset of the conflict in the Middle East on 7 October resulted in a pause in flights to Israel and Jordan and a temporary slowdown in flight bookings for the wider industry. Demand and bookings recovered strongly from late November with the second quarter seeing RPS of +8% year-on-year, supported in part due to the start of Easter holidays falling into March.
Our focus on increased productivity and utilisation offset inflationary cost pressure, which all airlines and the wider supply chain continue to see. This resulted in non-fuel unit costs being flat year-on-year, as previously guided.
easyJet continues to have one of the strongest investment grade balance sheets in European Aviation (Baa2, stable, by Moody's and BBB, positive, by Standard & Poor's). As at 31 March 2024 our net cash position was c.GBP146 million (31 December 2023 net debt: GBP485 million). easyJet repaid a EUR500 million Eurobond which matured in October 2023 and then on 20 March 2024 easyJet issued an EUR850 million bond with a coupon of 3.750%, maturing in 2031.
Financing costs benefitted from a decrease in gross debt and a rise in the interest rate on floating-rate cash deposits. However, foreign exchange movements over the period resulted in a non-operational, non-cash FX loss of GBP6 million from balance sheet revaluations.
(GBP'm) Low High
H1 24 Group headline EBITDAR range 5 25
H1 24 Group headline EBIT range (350) (330)
H1 24 Group headline loss before tax range (360) (340)
Variance
H1 24 numbers are circa and rounded to the middle of the range provided above H1'24 H1'23
Favourable / (Adverse)
Passenger revenue (GBP'm) 2,050 1,749 17%
Airline ancillary revenue (GBP'm) 910 767 19%
Holidays revenue4 (GBP'm) 310 173 79%
Group revenue (GBP'm) 3,270 2,689 22%
Fuel costs (GBP'm) (915) (773) (18%)
Airline headline EBITDAR costs ex fuel (GBP'm) (2,055) (1,824) (13%)
Holidays EBITDAR costs4 (GBP'm) (285) (161) (77%)
Group headline EBITDAR costs (GBP'm) (3,255) (2,758) (18%)
Group headline EBITDAR (GBP'm) 15 (69) 122%
Airline depreciation & amortisation (GBP'm) (352) (321) (10%)
Holidays depreciation & amortisation (GBP'm) (3) (2) (50%)
Group headline EBIT (GBP'm) (340) (392) 13%
Airline financing costs excluding balance sheet revaluations (GBP'm) (13) (46) 72%
Holidays financing costs excluding balance sheet revaluations (GBP'm) 9 0 n/a
Balance sheet revaluations (GBP'm) (6) 27 (122%)
Group headline LBT (GBP'm) (350) (411) 15%
Airline passenger revenue per seat (GBP) 48.34 46.24 5%
Airline ancillary revenue per seat (GBP) 21.53 20.22 6%
Total airline revenue per seat (GBP) 69.87 66.46 5%
Total airline RASK (p) 5.98 5.58 7%
Airline headline cost per seat ex fuel (GBP) 57.28 57.15 (0%)
Airline headline CASK ex fuel (p) 4.90 4.80 (2)%
Airline fuel cost per seat (GBP) 21.60 20.43 (6%)
Airline headline total cost per seat (GBP) 78.88 77.58 (2%)
Sector length (km) 1,168 1,192 (2%)
Cash and money market deposits (GBP'bn) 3.3 3.5 (6%)
Net cash/(debt) (GBP'm) 146 (156) 194%
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
A copy of this Trading Statement is available at http://corporate.easyjet.com/investors
1) Represents the number of earned seats flown. Earned seats include seats which 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) Direct impact of GBP40 million relates to the lost contribution in H1'24 from pausing flying to Israel and Jordan alongside the demand softness seen in Egypt following the onset of the conflict in the Middle East on 7 October 2023.
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 numbers include elimination of intercompany airline transactions.
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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ISIN: GB00B7KR2P84 Category Code: TST TIDM: EZJ LEI Code: 2138001S47XKWIB7TH90 Sequence No.: 316304 EQS News ID: 1883121 End of Announcement EQS News Service =------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 18, 2024 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)
