Full-year results from Ryanair were in line with previous guidance but with the airline surprised investors and analysts with its share buyback and dividend.
A €700 million share buyback is set to begin later this week and the introduction of a dividend last year, followed up with a final dividend of €0.178,
Revenue for the year to end-March was up 25% to €10.78 billion as traffic grew 9% to 183.7 million, despite delays in Boeing aeroplane deliveries.
Revenue per passenger was up 15%, including a 21% increase in fares and a 3% rise in ancillary revenue.
Total ancillary sales increased 12% to €4.30 billion, as spending on priority boarding, reserved seating and inflight sales increased to around €23.40 per passenger.
Profit jumped 34% to a record €1.92 billion, slightly ahead of analysts forecasts.
On the outlook, CEO Michael O’Leary said he expects traffic to grow 8% in the new financial year to 198-200 million passengers, "subject to Boeing deliveries returning to contracted levels before year-end".
He said Ryanair's cost advantage over competitors "continues to widen", even though he expects unit costs to "rise modestly" as non-fuel costs are offset by fuel hedge savings and rising interest income.
"Recent pricing is softer than we expected, with Q1 requiring more price stimulation than last year (particularly as half of Easter moved into March and out of April).
With EU short-haul capacity constrained and summer 2024 demand positive, the company projects summer 2024 fares to be flat to modestly ahead of summer 2023.
Broker Peel Hunt says new forward guidance for 2025 results is "slightly below our estimate" due to delays in Boeing aircraft deliveries.