Shares in Flybe (FLBE) landed with a bump even though the regional-focused airline's overhaul plan, project blackbird , seems to be progressing well. The carrier's share price oscillated on release of its full-year figures, perhaps reflecting contrasting interpretations of management's decision to pull the reins on planned fleet expansion. Some investors may see the move as a negative portent for demand, although this ignores the fact that one of project blackbird's key aims was to prevent empty seats through overcapacity. Chief executive Saad Hammad said it "makes sense in the context of what we're witnessing [across the industry]".
Elsewhere, costs were tightly controlled and led to a 2.2 per cent drop in costs per seat excluding fuel. Mr Hammad said this had been achieved through various measures, including increased ownership of the fleet, reducing lease costs, and increased digital marketing, designed to boost return on investment.
Analysts at Numis have trimmed adjusted pre-tax profit expectations for the year to March 2017 by 6 per cent to £21.7m, leading to adjusted EPS of 9p, compared to £5.5m and 4.4p in FY2016.
| FLYBE (FLYB) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 58.75 | MARKET VALUE: | £127m | |
| TOUCH: | 58.25-58.75p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 99p | LOW: 50.1p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | 19 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 71p | NET CASH: | £62m | |
| Year to 31 Mar | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 615 | -6.2 | -8.5 | nil |
| 2013 | 614 | -41.1 | -56.0 | nil |
| 2014 | 621 | 8.1 | 9.6 | nil |
| 2015 | 574 | -23.6 | -16.5 | nil |
| 2016 | 624 | 2.7 | 3.1 | nil |
| % change | +9 | - | - | - |
Ex-div: na Payment: na | ||||
