easyJet will present its full-year results for FY22 only on November 29, but in a trading update released today, it anticipates to significantly reduce its year-on-year loss. The headline loss before tax is expected to be between £-170 and £-190 million, which compares to £-1.136 billion in FY21. easyJet significantly reduces losses for FY22.
The result includes a £-64 million loss from balance sheet revaluations and the effects of the high US dollar, plus £-75 million in costs from operational disruptions, most of them in Q3. easyJet Holidays contributed to the result with a £35 million profit in the airline’s financial year 2022, which closed on September 30. At between £-10 to £10 million, headline EBIT should reach breakeven. Headline EBITDAR should be between £560 and £580 million compared to £-551 million last year.
The low-cost airline reported a strong Q4 (July-September), with a £525 to £545 million headline EBIT and a £470 to £490 million headline profit before tax. It carried 24 million passengers, load factors were up to 92 percent, and capacity to 88 percent compared to FY19. Ancillary revenues were up 52 percent over 2019 levels. Group revenues will be around £2.515 billion.
The carrier says that the operational issues that cost it £133 million in Q3 have now been overcome. Flight cancelations are below 2019 levels, but challenges remain as recent strikes at air traffic control in France have demonstrated.
For Q1 FY23, which includes the October holidays and Christmas season, easyJet will grow capacity to twenty million seats, up thirty percent from last year. Capacity in the UK will reach pre-pandemic levels and is confirmed by strong forward bookings and load factors. The airline announced last week that it will increase capacity next summer on UK routes to holiday destinations in Spain, Greece, Portugal, Turkey, Cyprus, and Egypt, growing the network to 104 destinations. easyJet Holidays will expand its offering by a thousand package holidays. In total, the airline put a quarter of a million flights on sale for the May-September 2023 period. A ninth Airbus will be based in Edinburgh.
easyJet ended September with £3.6 billion in liquidity and net debt of £0.7 billion. The airline has hedged 69 percent of its fuel costs for HY1 and 44 percent of HY2, as well as 78 percent of US dollar currency costs for HY1 and 47 percent in HY2. CEO Johan Lundgren says that the operational environment remains uncertain: “We face the uncertain macro-economic environment with many strengths through our brand, network, and business model which enable us to provide low fares to millions despite the rising cost of living.”
