The share price of Ryanair (LSE: RYA) has taken a 6% nose-dive today, despite the company announcing a Q3 net profit of €49m, compared to loss of €35m in the same period last year.
Customer numbers in the quarter went up 13.6%, from 18.3m to 20.8m, and third quarter revenue rose 17%, to €1,132m, with unit costs (ex-fuel) falling 6%.
The airline’s Load Factor — a measure of how efficiently it fills seats — increased by 6 percentage points, rising from 82% to 88%, which the company attributes to a combination of its “Always Getting Better” customer programme and its significantly expanded winter schedule.
The company also announced a programme to buy back up to €400m ordinary shares. The shares will be repurchased starting 12 February 2015 and ending not later than 14 August 2015.
Commenting on the Q3 results Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair, said:
“As 2015 will be Ryanair’s 30th year of bringing low fares to Europe, we are pleased to report a Q3 profit of €49m. These strong results confirm that our “Always Getting Better” customer programme and our expanded business schedules, coupled with our substantial fare and cost advantage over competitor airlines is drawing millions of new customers to Ryanair. “
At €9.76 Ryanair’s share price is up a substantial 55% since this time last year, compared with a mere 4% gain by the FTSE 100. And over the longer term Ryanir is trouncing the index, with a gain of 192% over the past five years, during which time the FTSE 100 has only increased by 31%.
