Ryanair Holdings plc (LON: RYA) swung to a sizeable loss in fiscal 2021 as the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic continued to weigh on traffic. The budget air carrier also warned that passenger number will remain under pressure (5 million to 6 million) in the first quarter.
Ryanair shares were reported just under 2% up in premarket trading on Monday. The stock, however, lost half of the intraday gain on market open to trade at a per-share price of £14.63. In comparison, it had started the year at £13.26 per share.
Ryanair’s revenue slides to £1.41 billion
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Ryanair refrained from giving its guidance for the rest of the year. The airline expressed confidence that bookings have improved sharply compared to the first week of April, but it was still difficult to offer any meaningful guidance for the rest of the year.
The Irish air carrier reported £880 million of net loss in the year that concluded on 31st March. In fiscal 2020, it had posted £559 million of profit instead. FactSet consensus for Ryanair’s loss in the recent year stood at an even higher £900 million.
Other notable figures in the low-cost air carrier’s financial update on Monday include £960 million of pre-tax loss and £1.41 billion of revenue. In the previous year, it had recorded £578 million of pre-tax profit and £7.32 billion of revenue. According to FactSet, experts had forecast a marginally lower £1.40 billion of revenue for Ryanair in fiscal 2021.
CEO Michael O’Leary comments on CNBC’s “Squawk Box”
Load factor stood at 71% in the recent year versus 95% in fiscal 2020. Commenting on pricing, CEO Michael O’Leary said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box”:
“Through the summer peak, pricing is going to be record low. Into the winter of 2021 and certainly into the summer of 2022 as Europe recovers from COVID-19, there’ll be about 20% less capacity. Ryanair is taking measures to add capacity and keep the pressure down on prices, including opening eight new bases in capital cities and receiving 60 new game-changer aircraft from Boeing this winter. But I still suspect into the winter of 2021 and summer of 2022, there’s going to be significant upward pressure on prices.”
Ryanair performed fairly upbeat in the stock market last year with an annual gain of more than 10%. At the time of writing, the Swords-headquartered airline is valued at £16.39 billion.
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