Finnair Group Half-Year Financial Report 1 January–30 June 2018

Finnair Plc        Half-Year Financial Report        17 July 2018 

Q2 comparable operating result improved by 27.6 per cent to 47.9 million euros

April–June 2018

•  Revenue increased by 12.9% to 715.0 million euros (633.4)*.
•  Available seat kilometres (ASK) grew by 17.9%.
•  Passenger load factor (PLF) decreased by 1.2 points to 82.5%.
•  Comparable operating result was 47.9 million euros (37.5). Operating result was 39.9 million euros (89.1).
•  Net cash flow from operating activities was 203.2 million euros (162.2), and net cash flow from investing activities was -32.8 million euros (-136.5).**
•  Unit revenue (RASK) decreased by 4.2%. Unit revenue at constant currency decreased by 3.0%.
•  Unit cost (CASK) decreased by 5.0%. Unit cost at constant currency excluding fuel decreased by 9.9%.
•  Earnings per share were 0.19 euros (0.50).

January–June 2018

•  Revenue increased by 13.7% to 1,350.4 million euros (1,187.7)*.
•  Available seat kilometres (ASK) grew by 18.4%.
•  Passenger load factor (PLF) increased by 0.1 points to 82.7%.
•  Comparable operating result was 51.8 million euros (28.5). Operating result was 45.9 million euros (79.1).
•  Net cash flow from operating activities was 281.2 million euros (186.1), and net cash flow from investing activities was -86.7 million euros (8.6).**
•  Unit revenue (RASK) decreased by 3.9%. Unit revenue at constant currency decreased by 2.4%.
•  Unit cost (CASK) decreased by 5.4%. Unit cost at constant currency excluding fuel decreased by 7.3%.  
•  Earnings per share were 0.18 euros (0.41).

*     Unless otherwise stated, comparisons and figures in parentheses refer to the comparison period, i.e. the same period last year.
**   In Q2, net cash flow from investing activities includes 16.0 million euros of investments in money market funds or other financial assets maturing after more than three months. In H1, these increased in net terms by 6.1 million euros. These redemptions are part of the Group’s liquidity management.  

Outlook

Outlook issued on 16 February 2018

Global airline traffic is expected to grow strongly in 2018. Finnair expects increased competition as existing and new operators increase capacity, particularly on routes linking Europe with Asia and North America.

Finnair plans on increasing its capacity by more than 15 per cent in 2018, with most of this growth coming in the first half of the year. Passenger volume is expected to grow broadly in line with capacity while revenue growth is expected to be slightly lower.

In line with its disclosure policy, Finnair will issue guidance on its full-year comparable operating result as part of its half-year report in July.

New outlook on 17 July 2018:

Global airline traffic continues to grow strongly in the second half of 2018. Finnair expects increased competition as existing and new operators increase capacity, particularly on routes linking Europe with Asia and North America. 

Finnair estimates that its capacity increases by more than 15 per cent in 2018. Passenger volume is expected to grow broadly in line with capacity while revenue growth is expected to be slightly lower. 

The substantial increase in the price of jet fuel will impact Finnair’s result especially in the second half of 2018. Finnair estimates that its comparable operating result in 2018 will be broadly at the previous year’s level (2017: 170.4 million euros), if current fuel prices and exchange rates prevail and assuming no material changes in business environment. 

CEO Pekka Vauramo:

The second quarter of the year was a good period for Finnair overall. Our comparable operating result rose to 47.9 million euros, a new record for the period, in spite of the increase in jet fuel price. Our capacity grew broadly in line with our expectations, nearly twice as fast as the market as a whole. Our Net Promoter Score, which measures customer satisfaction, increased to 50 (Q2 2017: 47). Everyone at Finnair deserves to be recognized for their fine performance in a period of rapid growth.

The result improvement achieved shows that we have been successful in implementing our growth strategy. Demand followed our capacity growth fairly well in all traffic areas and our passenger load factor was at a good level. Passengers volumes increased particularly in Asian traffic. The effect of the FIFA World Cup in Russia was evident on our European and North American routes in June. We broke our monthly passenger records in May and June. Also travel services revenue developed well, whereas the growth of ancillary sales and cargo revenue was slower than we expected.  

The safety and well-being of our customers and employees are key priorities for us as we strive to be the best airline for service, quality and customer and employee satisfaction. We continuously develop our operations in order to be competitive in the expected market growth in air travel between Asia and Europe.  

Financial reporting  

Finnair will publish its interim report for the period 1 January–30 September 2018 on 25 October 2018. 

FINNAIR PLC
Board of Directors

Briefings 

Finnair will hold a results press conference on 17 July 2018 at 11:00 a.m. and an analyst briefing at 12:30 p.m. at its office located at Tietotie 9. An English-language telephone conference and webcast will begin at 2:30 p.m. Finnish time. The conference may be attended by dialling your local access number +358 9 7479 0361 (Finland), 0200 880 389 (Sweden), 0800 358 6377 (UK) or +44 (0)330 336 9105 (all other countries). The confirmation code is 9398091. To join the live webcast, please register at: https://slideassist.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1201358  

For further information, please contact:

Chief Financial Officer Pekka Vähähyyppä, tel. +358 9 818 8550, pekka.vahahyyppa@finnair.com 
Director, Financial Communications Mari Reponen, tel. +358 9 818 2037, mari.reponen@finnair.com 

FINNAIR PLC

Further information:
Finnair communications, 358 9 818 4020, comms(a)finnair.com

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Finnair is a network airline specialising in passenger and cargo traffic between Asia and Europe. Helsinki’s geographical location gives Finnair a competitive advantage, since the fastest connections between many European destinations and Asian megacities fly over Finland. Finnair’s vision is to offer its passengers a unique Nordic experience, and its mission is to offer the smoothest, fastest connections in the northern hemisphere via Helsinki and the best network to the world from its home markets. Finnair is the only Nordic network airline with a 4-star Skytrax ranking and a member of the oneworld alliance. In 2017, Finnair’s revenues amounted to EUR 2,568.4 million and it carried almost 12 million passengers. Finnair Plc’s shares are quoted on Nasdaq Helsinki.