Air Lease Corporation Announces Fiscal Year and Fourth Quarter 2014 Results

LOS ANGELES—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Air Lease Corporation (ALC) (NYSE: AL) announced today financial results for the year and three months ended December 31, 2014.

Highlights

Air Lease Corporation reported another consecutive quarter of record fleet, revenue and profitability growth:

Diluted EPS increased 32% to $2.38 per share for the year ended December 31, 2014 compared to $1.80 per share for the year ended December 31, 2013. Diluted EPS increased 18% to $0.65 per share for the three months ended December 31, 2014 compared to $0.55 per share for the three months ended December 31, 2013.
Revenues increased 22% to $1 billion for the year ended December 31, 2014 compared to $859 million for the year ended December 31, 2013. Revenues increased 18% to $286 million for the three months ended December 31, 2014 compared to $243 million for the three months ended December 31, 2013.
Income before taxes increased 35% to $395 million with a pretax profit margin of 38% for the year ended December 31, 2014 compared to income before taxes of $293 million with a pretax profit margin of 34% for the year ended December 31, 2013. Income before taxes increased 19% to $108 million with a pretax profit margin of 38% for the three months ended December 31, 2014 compared to income before taxes of $91 million with a pretax profit margin of 37% for the three months ended December 31, 2013.
Recorded $20 million in gains on aircraft sales, trading and other activity for the three months ended December 31, 2014 compared to $17 million in gains on aircraft sales, trading and other activity for the three months ended December 31, 2013.
In January 2015, the Company became the launch customer for the Airbus A321LR.
Our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.04 per share on our outstanding common stock. The dividend will be paid on April 7, 2015 to holders of record of our common stock as of March 20, 2015.

“Air Lease Corporation concluded 2014 by generating over $1 billion in annual revenue for the very first time. At the same time, we delivered record profitability with a 38% pre-tax profit margin. Air Lease is now celebrating its fifth birthday as a Company and we are pleased with the consistency of our financial and operating results since inception. ALC’s business prospects look strong as the demand for our new technology aircraft remains robust,” said Steven F. Udvar-Házy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Air Lease Corporation.

“Global passenger traffic grew 5.9% in 2014, continuing the strong global trends which underpin the need for aircraft. The market is healthy for new aircraft and we see a great deal of interest in the used market as well. We seized on opportunities during the quarter, recording gains of $20 million on sales, trading and other activity. We kicked off 2015 by issuing a $600 million seven year senior unsecured investment grade bond, with a fixed interest rate of 3.75%. This issuance continues our trend of raising attractively priced long dated financing and enhancing our investment grade credit profile,” said John L. Plueger, President and Chief Operating Officer of Air Lease Corporation.

Flight Equipment Portfolio

As of December 31, 2014, we owned 213 aircraft in our operating lease portfolio and we leased the aircraft to a globally diversified customer base of 77 airlines in 46 countries. During the quarter ended December 31, 2014, we delivered nine aircraft from our new order pipeline. In addition, we sold eight aircraft from our operating lease portfolio during the quarter ended December 31, 2014. As of December 31, 2014, we managed 17 aircraft for third parties.

Debt Financing Activities

We ended 2014 with total debt outstanding of $6.7 billion as compared to $5.9 billion as of December 31, 2013. We ended 2014 with total unsecured debt outstanding of $5.5 billion compared to $4.3 billion as of December 31, 2013, increasing the Company’s unsecured debt as a percentage of total debt to 82.3% as of December 31, 2014 compared to 73.4% as of December 31, 2013. The Company’s fixed rate debt as a percentage of total debt increased to 75.2% as of December 31, 2014 from 61.9% as of December 31, 2013. Since the end of 2014, we issued $600.0 million in senior unsecured notes maturing in 2022 with a fixed interest rate of 3.75%.

We ended 2014 with a debt to equity ratio of 2.42:1 and available liquidity of $2.1 billion. Our financing strategy remains focused on raising unsecured debt in the global bank and capital markets.