Partner Article

easyJet claw back losses as Rake departs

Low-cost airline easyJet has nearly halved pre-tax losses in the first half of its 2013 year.

Total revenue per seat increased by 8.6% year-on-year to £53.39, and costs per seat grew by 3.4%, excluding fuel.

Costs were said to stem from charges at regulated airports, and the impact of weather related disruption, including de-icing costs.

In the six months to 31 March 2013, easyJet has returned £85 million or 21.5 pence per share to shareholders.

At the beginning of May, easyJet chairman Sir Mike Rake departed, making way for John Barton, chairman of clothing retailer Next.

Carolyn McCall, easyJet chief executive said: “easyJet delivered a strong first half performance, demonstrating the Company’s structural advantage in the European short-haul market against both legacy and low cost competition, and a continuing resilience against a challenging European macro-economic environment.

“Our performance reflects measurable progress against easyJet’s four key strategic objectives that have been amply demonstrated by a significant reduction in the loss for the first half and significant improvement in ROCE over the same period.

“Whilst there is always the potential for unexpected events to impact short term financial performance, the outlook for the second half of the financial year combined with the strong reduction in first half losses means that easyJet expects to deliver improved returns and profitability for the year ending 30 September 2013.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .