Ryanair Holdings’ share price up, posts a 8% drop in net profit, but forecasts profit growth due to flying more passengers

The largest discount airline in Europe – Ryanair Holdings made an official statement today, revealing that it projects to swing back to growth this year, after it posted its first profit fall in half a decade. Currently, the company has concentrated on attracting more business passengers and has set a goal to fly almost 3 million more people.

Mr. Howard Millar, the Chief Financial Officer of the company, said in a Bloomberg telephone interview: “Changing your customer experience takes some time. The feedback is very positive, particularly in relation to things like allocated seating, which is going well and hasn’t impacted turn-around times.”

Mr. Millard added: “Our experience is, moving into markets, the lowest-cost producer always wins. We’re not concerned about it. There is always some kind of fare war.”

Ryanair announced that it is going to offer discounts to families, who travel frequently by air. It also intends to introduce its business customers to fast-track airport services. Ryanair Holdings posted an 8% decline in its net profit for the year ended March, saying that its after-tax earnings amounted to 523 million euros. The profit drop was described as “disappointing” by Ryanair Holdings, which explained that the result is due to increased fuel costs, cheaper fares and negative exchange rate movements.

The airline company also shared its forecast for the current financial year that is to end in March 2015. Ryanair Holdings said that it expects an after-tax profit from 580 to 620 million euros, which would be approximately 19% increase from the previous year. It also said that a 5% increase in this financial years expenses, excluding fuel ones, is expected, due to the fact the company has decided to consolidate its presence at some larger airports on the territory of Europe, which impose higher landing charges.

The company also sticks to its goal to fly 110 million passengers by 2019. It is seeking to expand its reach by improving its presence at the so-called primary airports in cities such as Rome, Lisbon and Athens.

Ryanair Holdings was gaining 9.72% to trade at 6.96 euros per share by 13:04 GMT, marking a one year change of +10.00%. According to the information published on the Financial Times, the 21 analysts offering 12-month price targets for Ryanair Holdings have a median target of 8.00, with a high estimate of 9.90 and a low estimate of 5.60. The median estimate represents a 26.06% increase from the last price of 6.35.