Low-cost European airline Wizz Air (WIZZ) is giving back earlier gains despite reporting a 9.8% increase in first quarter revenue to €364.9 million.
Having earlier been up as much as 4.5% the stock is now down 0.2% at £15.40 as market attention switches back to Brexit-related turbulence.
The company has improved ticket revenue by 3% to €212 million in the the first three months of 2016, while reported net profit stands at a record €50.7 million, a year on year increase of more than 50%.
Wizz Air says the number of passengers carried rose to 5.8 million and its load factors advanced 0.7 percentage points to 89.5%, which is one of the highest in the industry.
However, the company says the EU referendum led to a notable weakness in euro-priced fares on routes to and from the UK, as a result of a weaker British pound.
To tackle this weakness, Wizz Air has started re-adjusting its network and halving its intended second half growth to the UK by re-deploying this capacity to other non-UK routes.
Davy Research is cautiously optimistic about the company’s outlook, noting its continued ancillary growth as a standout feature in its interim statement.
The broker highlights the 23% pullback in the stock since Brexit and is unlikely to change its full-year forecasts with underlying net income at €251 million.
Wizz Air’s total cash at the end of June 2016 was €827.7 million, of which €707.1 million is classified as free cash.
The airline has reduced its total unit costs by 10% to €3.19 euro cents per ASK and added three A321 aircraft during the quarter, increasing the fleet to 70 aircraft.
In addition, year-on-year growth of nearly 50% of the Wizz Discount Club membership shows traction in improving stickability with customers.
