Easyjet sinks on pre-close statement

The price of shares in budget airline Easyjet (LON:EZJ) has fallen by 8.23% to 1,076p (as of 14:45 BST) after it said that headline costs for the year would be up by 12%. Total passenger numbers were up by 8.6%, but load factors dropped by 1.4 percentage points as capacity increased at a higher rate. Profits are expected to be in the upper half of the prior guidance range.

CEO Johan Lundgren said: “easyJet has continued to perform in line with expectations, despite challenging market conditions.

“As a result of our self-help initiatives and the increased demand due to disruption at British Airways and Ryanair, we anticipate achieving headline profit before tax for the full year 2019 of between £420 million and £430 million, in the upper half of our previous guidance range.

“Our implementation of initiatives in the fourth quarter to optimise yield has led to solid revenue performance with total revenue per seat at constant currency set to increase for the full year. We have continued to invest in operational resilience, with the programme successfully reducing the impact of disruption on our operations. As a result, we expect to report a fall in headline cost per seat for the year, excluding fuel at constant currency.

“I would like to thank all our people for their continued tireless work in delivering the warmest welcome in the sky to all our customers“.