The low oil price is certainly fuelling the airline industry's capacity levels and low-cost player Wizz Air (WIZZ) is by no means sitting on its hands. The airline upped capacity by 19 per cent and expects it to rise by another 17 per cent in the 2017 financial year. But chief executive Jozsef Varadi says the underpenetrated markets of central and eastern Europe, where it operates, offer sufficient demand. Indeed, the number of passengers it carried in the period was up a fifth to 20m, which helped push the load factor of its planes up 1.5 percentage points to 88.2 per cent.
The company halted its one flight to Egypt and only has one scheduled flight to Turkey, so it's been largely insulated from the fallout following terrorist attacks in these locations. This was made evident by record underlying net profits of €224m (£170m) - 7 per cent higher than the group's March-dated guidance. Elsewhere, a total of 69 new routes were added in the period, as well as four new bases.
Analysts at Barclays expect pre-tax profits of €271m in the year to March 2017, leading to EPS of 201¢, compared with €232m and 177¢ in FY2016.
| WIZZ AIR (WIZZ) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 1,985p | MARKET VALUE: | £1.13bn | |
| TOUCH: | 1,974-1,986p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 2,066p | LOW: 1,450p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | 7 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 1,211¢ | NET CASH: | €639m | |
| Year to 31 Mar | Turnover (€bn) | Pre-tax profit (€m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (¢) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012* | 0.77 | 41.9 | na | nil |
| 2013* | 0.85 | 33.7 | na | nil |
| 2014* | 1.01 | 95.4 | na | nil |
| 2015 | 1.23 | 192 | 343** | nil |
| 2016 | 1.43 | 201 | 362 | nil |
| % change | +16 | +5 | - | - |
*Pre-IPO figures **Adjusted for the increase in ordinary shares from 12.7m to 53.3m £1= €1.31 | ||||
