Ryanair Holdings PLC (LON:RYA) shares were lower after the budger carirer warned that it expects tough competition on fares in the second half of the year with average ticket prices likely to fall by 8%.
In a statement releasing its first quarter to end June results, the airline said: "after a difficult winter last year, we expect the pricing environment to remain very competitive into H2 where we will grow traffic by approx. 7%."
It added that: "Yield visibility into H2 is zero and we see no reason at this time to alter our H2 average fare guidance of an 8% decline."
The airline's second half runs to the end of March. For the first half of the year to the end of September, Ryanair sees average fares down 5%.
Ryanair shares fell 2.60% to €17.63 in midmorning trading.
Ryanair’s profits over the three months to end June jumped 55% to €443.7mln, up from €286.5mln a year earlier. The airline carried 35mln passengers, up 12% from last year, taking profit per passenger to €12.70 from €9.20.
Profits were boosted by the timing of Easter, but partly offset by the weaker pound and smaller revenue from checked luggage as customers stuck to carry on luggage.
The budget airline continued to be worried about its prospects in the wake of Brexit.
It said: " We remain concerned at the uncertainty which surrounds the terms of the UK's departure from the EU in March '19. While we continue to campaign for the UK to remain in the EU Open Skies agreement, we caution that should the UK leave, there may not be sufficient time, or goodwill on both sides, to negotiate a timely replacement bilateral which could result in a disruption of flights between the UK and Europe for a period of time from April '19 onwards. "
It warrned that:"If we do not have certainty about the legal basis for the operation of flights between the UK and the EU by autumn 2018, we may be forced to cancel flights and move some, or all, of our UK based aircraft to Continental Europe from April '19 onwards."