Dow Jones Newswires: Ryanair narrows loss as it weighs LSE delisting

Ryanair Holdings PLC RYAAY, +2.57% said Monday that its net loss narrowed for the first half of fiscal 2022 as revenue increased, and that it was considering a delisting from the London Stock Exchange LSEG, +0.85%.

The low-cost carrier said that as its trading on the LSE had materially reduced in 2021 the board was considering the merits of retaining the listing. It added that it has a primary listing on Euronext Dublin and that its American depositary receipts were listed on Nasdaq.

“The migration away from the LSE is consistent with a general trend for trading in shares of EU corporates post Brexit and is, potentially, more acute for Ryanair as a result of the long-standing prohibition on non-EU citizens purchasing Ryanair’s ordinary shares being extended to U.K. nationals following Brexit,” the company said.

For the period ended Sept. 30, the European budget airline reported a net loss of 47.6 million euros ($55 million), compared with a net loss of EUR410.5 million for the first half of fiscal 2021.

Revenue for the period was EUR2.15 billion, compared with EUR1.18 billion, it said. The company said this was due to traffic reaching 39.1 million passengers, compared with 17.1 million a year earlier. Load factor for the period–a measure of how full a plane is–was 79% for the half year, it said.

The airline said that average fares were down around 30% on the year-prior period at just over EUR33 due to the need to implement a pricing stimulus to counteract the disruption stemming from the pandemic on Easter traffic, the delayed relaxation of EU travel restrictions into May and June, as well as the uncertainty caused by the U.K.’s traffic light system during the summer.

“Ancillary revenue continued its strong performance, generating over €22.50 per passenger, as guests choose priority boarding and reserved seating,” the airline said.

It added that in recent weeks it has seen a surge in bookings for the October mid-term and Christmas breaks, and that its expects this to continue into Easter and summer 2022.

Nonetheless the company said that winter’s pricing and yields will be challenging, and that traffic recovery will require a continued price stimulation.

The company said that this, as well as rising costs, meant that visibility for the remainder of the year was limited, and that it was difficult to provide meaningful guidance for fiscal 2022.

Still, Ryanair said that traffic for fiscal 2022 had improved to just over 100 million passengers and that–subject to winter fares–it expects to record a loss of between EUR100 million to EUR200 million for the fiscal year.

The low-cost carrier said this outturn was dependent of a continued vaccine rollout and no adverse developments stemming from Covid-19.

Write to Anthony O. Goriainoff at anthony.orunagoriainoff@dowjones.com