easyjet: Quarter 3 2013 Interim Management Statement

• Total revenue for the third quarter grew by 10.5% to £1,142 million, driven by a 3.6% increase in capacity and improvement in revenue per seat.
• Revenue per seat grew by 6.1% at constant currency or by 6.7% on a reported basis to £61.44 per seat driven by network optimisation and the on-going programme of revenue initiatives including the 'europe by easyJet' campaign, improvements to the revenue management system and the benign capacity environment for easyJet.
• The load factor of 88.2% was 0.9 percentage points lower than prior year primarily driven by the timing of Easter which fell on 31 March 2013, a week earlier than in 2012. Passengers carried increased by 2.6% to 16.4 million.
• Cost per seat excluding fuel increased by 4.5% at constant currency or by 6.4% on a reported basis. The increase was driven by the anticipated annualisation of significant increases in airport charges at regulated airports, especially those in Spain and Italy together with higher than anticipated disruption.
• easyJet has secured its new framework arrangements for new aircraft through to 2022 to allow it to continue to execute its strategy.
• easyJet announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Flybe's 25 slots at Gatwick from summer 2014 for a total consideration of £20 million, subject to Flybe's shareholder approval.
• Cash and money market deposits were £1,454 million and net cash was £714 million at 30 June 2013 demonstrating easyJet's continued strong balance sheet.
• easyJet expects profit before tax for the year to 30 September 2013 to be between £450 million and £480 million assuming no further significant disruption.

Commenting on the results, Carolyn McCall, easyJet Chief Executive said:

"easyJet has delivered a strong performance in the third quarter in a benign capacity environment for easyJet. The strong performance demonstrates further progress against the easyJet strategy and the commitment to deliver returns and profitable growth for shareholders.

With 73% of second half seats now booked, easyJet expects profit before tax for the year to 30 September 2013 to be between £450 million and £480 million compared to the £317 million profit before tax reported in the prior financial year assuming no further significant disruption."