EasyJet’s Share Price Jumps 7% on Higher Q3 Revenue

iNVEZZ.com, Wednesday, July 24th: EasyJet’s share price (LON:EZJ) jumped by seven percent to 1,430.00p today at the opening bell on the London Stock Exchange after the budget airline reported a substantial increase in third-quarter revenue.

EasyJet said today that revenue in the three months ended June 30 grew by 10.5 percent to ₤1.142 billion, driven by a 3.6 percent increase in capacity. Thanks to network optimisation, the “Europe by easyJet” campaign and the benign capacity environment for the airline, revenue per seat increased by 6.1 percent at constant currency to ₤61.44 per seat.

The load factor decreased by 0.9 percentage points to 88.2 percent, mainly due to the timing of Easter which fell on March 31, a week earlier than in 2012. Passengers carried climbed by 2.6 percent to 16.4 million. Cost per seat excluding fuel rose by 4.5 percent at constant currency after significant increases in airport charges at some regulated airports.

“EasyJet has delivered a strong performance in the third quarter in a benign capacity environment for easyJet,” said chief executive Carolyn McCall. “The strong performance demonstrates further progress against the easyJet strategy and the commitment to deliver returns and profitable growth for shareholders.”
The Luton, southern England-based airline, said it expected profit before tax for the year to September 2013 to be between ₤450 million and ₤480 million assuming no significant disruption. This represents an increase of between 42 percent and 51 percent on the ₤317 million profit before tax reported in the prior year.

Earlier this month shareholders of easyJet backed a multibillion-dollar deal to expand the budget airline’s fleet, despite strong opposition from founder and top investor Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou. The airline purchased a total of 135 planes with the option of buying a further 100 later. Based on Airbus’ list prices, the order was worth some $12.6 billion (₤8.2 billion), yet airlines usually secure considerable discounts, especially for such large orders (Shareholders Back Multibillion Aircraft Order).

!m[Citigroup Reaffirms “Buy” Rating on Budget Airline’s Stock](/uploads/story/4276/thumbs/pic1_inline.gif)
**Analysts on easyJet**
Citigroup reaffirmed their “buy” rating on easyJet’s shares in a note sent to investors on Friday last week. The bank has a price target of 1,450p on the stock.
Three analysts have rated easyJet’s shares with a “sell” rating, six have assigned a “hold” rating and seventeen have given them a “buy” rating. The stock currently has an average rating of “buy” and a consensus price target of 1,150.12p.
**easyJet’s share price was 1,430.19p as of 24.07.2013, 08.13 BST.**