Aer Lingus revenue up 2.3% in 2013; Operating profit of €61.1 million in line with expectations

Aer Lingus today announced its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2013.

Total revenue for the year was up 2.3% to €1,425 million from €1,393 million in 2012, while 2013 operating profit, before net exceptional items, was €61.1 million in line with stated guidance.

Average fare revenue per seat also increased, up 2%, to €90.43, while effective network capacity management resulted in the load factor climbing 0.7 points to 78.4%, with increases on both short and long haul services.

The long haul performance was particularly strong with revenue up 11.1% to €381.6 million, passenger numbers up 12.2% and load factor up 0.6 points on increased capacity of 11.6%.

Short haul revenue for 2013 was down 3.3% due to extremely good weather in Ireland and Northern Europe in the peak summer period and an increasingly competitive pricing environment in Q3 and Q4 2013.

The balance sheet was again strong at the year end with gross cash of €897.4 million and an 11.4% increase in net cash to €419.8 million.

A number of important strategic initiatives were achieved during 2013 including the profitable expansion of Aer Lingus’ transatlantic operations; the successful launch of contract flying business on behalf of Virgin Atlantic and Novair; expanded codeshare agreements with United Airlines and Air Canada; and a range of new retail initiatives, including wi-fi services, upgraded meal offerings and checked baggage options.

Based on the strong performance the Aer Lingus board is proposing to pay a dividend of four cent per share for 2013, in line with the previous year, and expects to maintain dividends at this level for the foreseeable future.

Commenting on the 2013 performance Christoph Mueller, Aer Lingus’ CEO said:

“2013 was the first year of significant growth for Aer Lingus since the global economic downturn. We added 11.6% additional capacity to our mainline long haul network and more than sold this. We also successfully commenced contract flying operations and as a result, increased our short haul fleet by four aircraft. While we faced challenges in short haul markets in the second half of the year, we took effective corrective action to protect margin and in this way delivered a creditable profit.

While I am broadly satisfied with our financial performance for 2013, I believe that we could have done better. In particular, the absence of progress on pension matters inhibited developments on several other key matters for our business. We believe that our proposal to address funding difficulties in the IASS represents a viable solution, which is in the interests of all parties. However, we can no longer defer business improvement initiatives while we wait for this proposal to be implemented and we will press ahead in 2014 to focus on two key areas for our business, namely service and cost.”

A more detailed account of the 2013 preliminary results is attached and available on aerlingus.com http://corporate.aerlingus.com/investorrelations/