Ryanair has increased its annual pre-tax profits by 26 per cent to €568 million - up by €117 million on the previous year - despite a 30 per cent increase in fuel costs.
The Irish no-frills airline benefited from a 19 per cent rise in revenue to €4.3 billion for the financial year ending in March 2012. Passenger numbers went up 5 per cent to 75.8 million for the year despite Ryanair grounding 80 aircraft over the winter season.
Ryanair also increased ancillary revenue by 11 per cent to €886 million for the year which represented 21 per cent of the company’s total revenue.
Chief executive Michael O'Leary described the results as “commendable” given the fuel cost rise and weak European economic outlook. He also announced that the airline was planning to pay a dividend of €483 million or €0.34 per share.
“The combination of rising oil prices and EU-wide recession has accelerated the rate of change in the competitive landscape,” said O’Leary.
“We expect more European failures in 2012, as higher oil prices and recession continues to expose failed airline models as well as sub-scale or peripheral carriers.”
O’Leary said Ryanair had capitalized on the failure of carriers such as Malev, Spanair and Cimber Sterling over the last few months.
But O’Leary warned that Ryanair’s fuel bill which went up to €1.6 billion in 2011/2 was likely to rise by a further €320 million during the next financial year.
“We remain concerned about next winter as we have zero yield visibility but expect recession, austerity, currency concerns and lower fares at new and growing bases in Hungary, Poland, Provincial UK, and Spain will make it difficult to repeat this year's record results,” added O’Leary.