easyJet PLC has done a solid job of bouncing back from the pandemic, analysts said, with the final hurdle being overcome with the reinstatement of its dividend this year.
A return to pre-tax profit of £455 million over the full year, as reported on Tuesday, marked the airline’s rebound, which analysts believe is now effectively complete on easyJet’s part.
That is, anything easyJet has been able to resolve, it has, with Tuesday’s update also showing it closed the year with £41 million in net cash, compared to a £670 million deficit last year.
According to Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Sophie Lund-Yates, this can only be good news for investors, given any remaining issues for easyJet are ones it simply cannot address.
“[It] tells the market that its proposition is about as good as it can be,” she said, “and [easyJet] is waiting to take off once conditions allow.”
easyJet said itself that the new financial year had started with both profit and revenue-per-seat growth, suggesting no drastic changes to households’ prioritisation on travel have yet been seen.
Given the absence of any major downturn then, interactive investor analyst Richard Hunter noted that external threats were now in line with what the industry had traditionally faced.
Coupled with easyJet’s own confidence in the ongoing boom in demand continuing, he added optimism was now building that the airline could indeed meet ambitious medium-term targets of scoring £1 billion in pre-tax profit.
Commenting on the airline’s first dividend since 2020, of 4.5p per share, he added: “The very fact that easyJet is in a position to make this move is a far cry from the recent past.
“[It] shows confidence in prospects which have taken some time to recover.”
Shares climbed 3.5% to 419.30p on Tuesday.