Finnair Group Interim Report 1 January – 31 March 2019

Finnair Plc, Stock Exchange Release, 24 April 2019 at 9.00 am. EET 

Revenue increased by 5 per cent year-on-year and number of passengers reached a new Q1 record

 Quarterly and full-year figures for 2018 have been restated to reflect the adoption of the IFRS 16 standard, changesin accounting principles relating to aircraft components and the changes in the presentation of profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow statements. The restated figures were published on 21 March 2019. More information on the restatement is available in Note 17 to the Interim Report.

January–March 2019 

•  Revenue increased by 5.0% to 672.9 million euros (641.1)*.
•  Available seat kilometres (ASK) grew by 10.4%.
•  Passenger load factor (PLF) was 78.3% (-4.6 points).
•  Comparable operating result was -16.2 million euros (14.6). Operating result was -17.6 million euros (16.9).
•  Net cash flow from operating activities was 148.3 million euros (108.0), and net cash flow from investing activities was -70.2 million euros (-56.5).**
•  Unit revenue (RASK) decreased by 4.9%. Unit revenue at constant currency decreased by 5.3%.
•  Unit cost (CASK) decreased by 0.4%. Unit cost at constant currency excluding fuel decreased by 2.8%.
•  Earnings per share were -0.33 euros (0.08).

*     Unless otherwise stated, comparisons and figures in parentheses refer to the comparison period, i.e. the same period last year. 

**   In Q1, net cash flow from investing activities includes 52.6 million euros of redemptions in money market funds or other financial assets maturing after more than three months. These redemptions are part of the Group’s liquidity management.  

Outlook

Guidance issued on 15 February 2019 and repeated on 24 April 2019:

Global airline traffic is expected to continue growing in 2019. Finnair expects increased competition as capacity is added, particularly on routes linking Europe with Asia as well as in short-haul traffic. ​The slowdown in the economy of Finnair’s key markets and the continued uncertainties surrounding global trade, including from Brexit, could impact the demand for air travel and cargo.

Finnair plans to increase its capacity by approximately 10 per cent in 2019, down from its 14.8 per cent capacity growth in 2018. This growth is mainly focused on the Asian market. Revenue is expected to grow at a somewhat slower pace than capacity in 2019.

​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.

CEO Topi Manner:

Our revenue increased by 5 per cent in January–March compared to the same period last year and totaled 673 million euros. We grew our transfer traffic between Asia and Europe in particular, and our cargo performed well too. Despite this growth, our revenue growth fell short of our approximately 10 per cent capacity increase in this period, which was partly due to the two new A350 aircraft delivered at the end of last year and during the review period. We missed last year's record result, as expected, and our comparable operating result totaled -16.2 million euros. The decline was impacted by an increase in volume driven operational costs and higher price of jet fuel.

Increases in capacity put pressure on our unit revenues particularly in European and domestic traffic. On routes from Japan to Europe, and on the main North Atlantic routes, demand remained strong. The year started slowly in China, where demand slowed down compared to last year due to the slowdown in the country's economic growth, the threat of a trade war, the longer than normal Chinese People's Congress in March and our own changes in sales channel mix. Furthermore, the fact that Easter fell in April this year influenced the demand for passenger traffic to some extent in European and North-Atlantic traffic.

Our cargo business, in turn, grew strongly, which was contrary to the general trend in the industry. The good development was influenced by good demand in Finnair's main cargo markets and the low comparison level due to the opening of our new cargo terminal in early 2018. The revenue in our travel services weakened due to oversupply of holiday travel packages.

The second new A350 aircraft scheduled for this year will enter service in the coming weeks, just in time for the seasonally stronger summer months. At the moment, our sales outlook for the coming months is good, and therefore our earlier guidance on the 2019 capacity and revenue growth is repeated.

Finnair will continue to invest in its future and key productivity drivers: personnel experience, customer experience, responsible air transport and simplified processes. In addition, we continue to develop the ability to respond to changes in the external environment. Our goal is to continue sustainable, profitable growth.

Financial Reporting in 2019

The publication dates of Finnair’s financial reports in 2019 are the following: 

Half-year report 1 January – 30 June 2019:                     17 July 2019

Interim Report 1 January – 30 September 2019: 22 October 2019 

This text is a summary of Finnair's Interim Report January-March 2019. The full report is available as an attachment to this report. 

FINNAIR PLC
Board of Directors

Briefings 

Finnair will hold a results press conference on 24 April 2019 at 11:00 a.m. at its office located at Tietotie 9.

An English-language telephone conference and webcast will begin at 1:00 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 2788339. To join the live webcast, please register at: https://slideassist.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1241183 

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

IR Analyst, Kasper Joukama, tel.+358 9 8181 2004, kasper.joukama@finnair.com

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

Distribution:
Nasdaq Helsinki
Principal media

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 carrier with a 4-star Skytrax ranking and a member of the oneworld alliance. In 2018, Finnair’s revenues amounted to EUR 2,835 million and it carried 13.3 million passengers. Finnair Plc’s shares are quoted on Nasdaq Helsinki.