Wizz Air (WIZZ) isn't letting overcapacity fears in the European airline sector get in the way of its ambitious expansion plans. It wants to increase its own capacity by 23 per cent by the end of FY2018 and load factor by 1 percentage point. It could do this by bidding for the four aircraft spaces left empty by the now collapsed Monarch Airlines at London Luton airport, where Wizz Air opened a UK base earlier this year. Each spot would allow for between 20 and 24 additional routes from the UK to Europe. The airline is also looking at where to add routes within mainland Europe.
So far Wizz Air has been able to keep up with its rapid expansion without sacrificing its capital structure. In the first half, the airline increased the number of passengers it carried by a quarter to 15.6m, while maintaining a 25 per cent net profit margin. It started flying 57 new routes, bringing the total number of routes operated to 550, to 43 countries from 28 bases.
Analysts at Investec expect pre-tax profit of €295m (£261m) in the year to March 2018, giving EPS of 219¢, up from €237m and 179¢ in FY2017.
WIZZ AIR (WIZZ) | ||||
ORD PRICE: | 3,082p | MARKET VALUE: | £3.16bn | |
TOUCH: | 3,080-3,083p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 3,404p | LOW: 1,505p |
DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | 8 | |
NET ASSET VALUE: | 1,212¢ | NET CASH: | € 1.2bn |
Half-year to 30 Sep | Turnover (€bn) | Pre-tax profit (€m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (¢) |
2016 | 0.9 | 263 | 443 | nil |
2017 | 1.1 | 301 | 445 | nil |
% change | +24 | +15 | - | - |
Ex-div: | na | |||
Payment: | na | |||
£1=€1.13 |