Wizz Air (WIZZ) chief executive Jozsef Varadi brushed off the threat of Brexit as the budget airline looks to add another million seats to its UK operations following the 1m seats added during the year to March 2017. While UK consumers may have their spending power squeezed by weak sterling, the cheaper currency boosted inbound tourism to England from eastern Europe. Weak sterling resulted in a negative currency translation of €17m (£14.8m) on revenues, but Mr Varadi said that this was absorbed by the rest of the airline's diverse network.
The airline reported its most profitable year under International Financial Reporting Standards, with profits up 28 per cent to €246m, on the back of a 19 per cent increase in passenger numbers to 23.8m and is looking to ramp up its capacity growth by 23 per cent to carry closer to 30m passengers. Lower fuel prices boosted the company during the period, and even although oil prices are creeping back up, Wizz has already hedged half of its fuel requirements.
Analysts at Barclays expect adjusted pre-tax profit of €282m in the year to March 2018, giving EPS of 209¢, up from €235m and 178¢ in FY2017.
| WIZZ AIR (WIZZ) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 2,152p | MARKET VALUE: | £2.36bn | |
| TOUCH: | 2,152-2,158p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 2,152p | LOW: 1,380p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | 6 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 1,659¢ | NET CASH: | €774m | |
| Year to 31 Mar | Turnover (€bn) | Pre-tax profit (€m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (¢) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 2017 | 1.57 | 256 | 430 | nil |
| % change | +10 | +27 | +19 | - |
Ex-div: na Payment: na *Pre-IPO figures | ||||
