easyJet Plc (LON:EZJ) has announced its trading update for the quarter ended 30 June 2024.
· Q3 headline profit before tax £236 million, +£33 million YoY
o Passenger growth +8% YoY
o RPS +1% YoY, in line with guidance
o easyJet holidays delivers £73 million PBT (Q3’23 £49 million)
o Headline CPS ex fuel increased 1% YoY, Fuel CPS reduced 1% YoY
§ Headline CASK ex fuel flat YoY, total CASK reduced 1% YoY
· Positive outlook for FY24
o Expect FY24 capacity of c.100m seats
o Q4’24 RPS is expected to continue the trend of Q3’24
o easyJet holidays is now expected to deliver >£180m PBT (>48% profit growth YoY)
o Continue to expect H2 headline CPS ex fuel up low single digits YoY
o H2 fuel CPS expected to be flat YoY
Summary
easyJet’s third quarter profit improved by £33 million year-on-year as demand for easyJet’s primary airport network continues to grow. Airline passenger numbers increased by 8% and RPS increased by 1% year-on-year, with headline CPS ex fuel increasing by 1%. However the 1% increase in average sector length meant that headline CASK ex fuel was flat year-on-year. easyJet holidays continues to perform strongly, growing PBT by 49% to £73 million with passenger growth of 33%.
As at 30 June 2024, our net cash position was £456 million (£146 million as at 31 March 2024). All 16 aircraft, as expected, have been taken into ownership and delivered with the final one received in July.
Bookings for Q4 continue to build, with 69% now sold, +1 ppt year-on-year with 7% more capacity on sale. This means easyJet has currently sold 1.5 million more seats for peak summer compared to the same point in time last year with total yield broadly flat year on year.
Looking to Q1’25, on sale capacity is up c.5% with 20% of the program currently sold, +2 ppts year-on-year.
Johan Lundgren, CEO of easyJet, said:
“Our strong performance in the quarter has been driven by more customers choosing easyJet for our unrivalled network of destinations and value for money. This result was achieved despite Easter falling into March this year, demonstrating the continued importance of travel and this means we remain on track to deliver another record-breaking summer, taking us a step closer to our medium term targets.”
Revenue, Cost and Liquidity
Revenue increased by 11% to £2,631 million predominantly due to an increase in passengers of 8%, growth in ancillary revenue per seat and the continued growth of easyJet holidays.
Airline headline cost per seat ex fuel in the quarter increased 1% as disruption costs were much improved year-on-year (a 33% reduction in events) offset by the 1% increase in average sector length as we increased our proportion of longer leisure routes. easyJet continues to expect its H2’24 CPS ex fuel to increase by low single digits although Q4 is expected to increase slightly more than Q3. This is due to the challenging European ATC environment and a one off benefit following the successful completion of airport negotiations in the prior year.
Financing costs benefitted from a decrease in gross debt and a higher interest rate on floating-rate cash deposits. Foreign exchange movements over the period resulted in a non-operational, non-cash FX gain of £2 million from balance sheet revaluations.
| Q3’24 | Q3’23 | VarianceFavourable / (Adverse) | |
| Passenger revenue (£’m) | 1,602 | 1,501 | 7% |
| Airline ancillary revenue (£’m) | 693 | 622 | 11% |
| Holidays revenue3 (£’m) | 336 | 237 | 42% |
| Group revenue (£’m) | 2,631 | 2,360 | 11% |
| Fuel costs (£’m) | (625) | (585) | (7)% |
| Airline headline EBITDAR costs ex fuel (£’m) | (1,315) | (1,210) | (9)% |
| Holidays EBITDAR costs3 (£’m) | (268) | (193) | (39)% |
| Group headline EBITDAR costs (£’m) | (2,208) | (1,988) | (11)% |
| Group headline EBITDAR (£’m) | 423 | 372 | 14% |
| Airline depreciation & amortisation (£’m) | (187) | (170) | (10)% |
| Holidays depreciation & amortisation (£’m) | (2) | (1) | (100)% |
| Group headline EBIT (£’m) | 234 | 201 | 16% |
| Airline financing costs excluding balance sheet revaluations (£’m) | (7) | (14) | 50% |
| Holidays financing income excluding balance sheet revaluations (£’m) | 7 | 6 | 17% |
| Balance sheet revaluations (£’m) | 2 | 10 | (80)% |
| Group headline PBT (£’m) | 236 | 203 | 16% |
| Airline passenger revenue per seat (£) | 56.95 | 57.33 | (1%) |
| Airline ancillary revenue per seat (£) | 24.66 | 23.75 | 4% |
| Total airline revenue per seat (£) | 81.61 | 81.08 | 1% |
| Total airline RASK (p) | 6.54 | 6.58 | (1%) |
| Airline headline cost per seat ex fuel (£) | (53.59) | (52.86) | (1)% |
| Airline headline CASK ex fuel (p) | (4.29) | (4.29) | 0% |
| Airline fuel cost per seat (£) | (22.23) | (22.35) | 1% |
| Airline headline total cost per seat (£) | (75.82) | (75.21) | (1)% |
| Sector length (km) | 1,248 | 1,233 | 1% |
| Cash and money market deposits (£’bn) | 3.7 | 3.1 | 19% |
| Net cash/(debt) (£’m) | 456 | 304 | 50% |
Capacity
During Q3 easyJet flew 28.1 million seats, a 7% increase on the same period last year when easyJet flew 26.2 million seats. Load factor was 90% (Q3 FY23: 90%) with load factor increasing to 92% in June.
Passenger1 numbers in the quarter increased to 25.3 million (Q3 FY23: 23.5 million).
| April2024 | May2024 | June2024 | Q3FY24 | Q3FY23 | |
| Number of flights | 49,232 | 54,071 | 53,184 | 156,487 | 146,816 |
| Peak operating aircraft | 297 | 318 | 330 | 330 | 310 |
| Passengers 1 (thousand) | 7,849 | 8,717 | 8,752 | 25,318 | 23,454 |
| Seats flown (thousand) | 8,843 | 9,724 | 9,555 | 28,122 | 26,177 |
| Load factor 2 | 88.8% | 89.7% | 91.6% | 90.0% | 89.6% |
Fuel & FX Hedging
| Jet Fuel | H1’25 | H2’25 | USD | H1’25 | H2’25 | |
| Hedged position | 65% | 31% | Hedged position | 65% | 34% | |
| Average hedged rate ($/MT) | 830 | 813 | Average hedged rate (USD/GBP) | 1.26 | 1.27 | |
| Current spot ($/MT) at 23.07.24 | c. 810 | Current spot (USD/GBP) at 23.07.24 | c.1.29 | |||
easyJet fuel hedging is via a mix of swaps and options
External Audit Tender Process
The Audit Committee has recently undertaken a competitive audit tender, with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) unable to continue beyond 2025 for reasons of tenure. The Board have selected Deloitte LLP to succeed PwC as auditor. PwC are expected to complete the audit for the year ending 30 September 2025 before Deloitte LLP’s appointment is put to the 2026 AGM. Further details will be set out in the 2024 Annual Report.
