Finnair Group Interim Report 1 January–30 September 2018

Finnair Plc                          Interim Report 1-9/2018       25 October 2018 at 9.00 EET

Number of passengers at record level in Q3, Finnair got recognition in customer ratings. Finnair specifies its full year guidance. 

July–September 2018 

•  Revenue increased by 8.9% to 801.2 million euros (735,4)*.
•  Available seat kilometres (ASK) grew by 14.2%.
•  Passenger load factor (PLF) was 84.5% (-2.7 percentage points).
•  Comparable operating result was 108.4 million euros (118.9). Operating result was 105.7 million euros (122.2).
•  Net cash flow from operating activities was 64.4 million euros (103.6), and net cash flow from investing activities was -57.8 million euros (-80.5).**
•  Unit revenue (RASK) decreased by 4.6%. Unit revenue at constant currency decreased by 3.1%.
•  Unit cost (CASK) decreased by 1.6%. Unit cost at constant currency excluding fuel decreased by 6.4%.
•  Earnings per share were 0.60 euros (0.71).

January–September 2018 

•  Revenue increased by 11.9% to 2,151.5 million euros (1,923.1)*.
•  Available seat kilometres (ASK) grew by 16.8%.
•  Passenger load factor (PLF) was 83.4% (-1.0 percentage points).
•  Comparable operating result was 160.2 million euros (147.5). Operating result was 151.7 million euros (201.3).
•  Net cash flow from operating activities was 345.6 million euros (289.6), and net cash flow from investing activities was -144.5 million euros (-71.9).**
•  Unit revenue (RASK) decreased by 4.2%. Unit revenue at constant currency decreased by 2.7%.
•  Unit cost (CASK) decreased by 4.0%. Unit cost at constant currency excluding fuel decreased by 6.9%.  
•  Earnings per share were 0.79 euros (1.12).

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

**  In Q3, net cash flow from investing activities includes 73.4 million euros of investments in money market funds or other financial assets maturing after more than three months. In January - September, these increased in net terms by 79.6 million euros. These redemptions are part of the Group’s liquidity management.  

Outlook

New guidance on 25 October 2018:

Global airline traffic continues to grow strongly, and Finnair is experiencing increased competition in its main markets. At the same time the price of jet fuel is increasing Finnair’s costs.

Finnair estimates that its capacity increases by more than 15 per cent in 2018. Passenger volume is expected to grow by 12-13 per cent and revenue is expected to grow by 10-11 per cent in 2018.

Comparable operating profit in 2018 will be somewhat below the previous year’s level (2017: 170.4 million euros). This estimate includes the positive profit impact of approximately 11 million euros from the discontinuation of the pilots’ long-term incentive plan, that was announced separately today.

Outlook issued 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. 

Interim CEO, CFO Pekka Vähähyyppä:

Finnair's growth continued in Q3, and the number of passengers carried reached a new record for the quarter. Our aircraft flew quite full despite our capacity growth and increased competition. I am particularly pleased that we received a Five-Star Global Airline rating from APEX based on customer reviews, and also won the World Airline Award for Best Airline Northern Europe for the ninth year in a row. For these recognitions, I express my warmest thanks to our employees, whose good work creates an excellent customer experience.

We continued to develop our product and customer service by, for example, launching a new high-speed internet service on our narrow-body Airbus fleet on European flights and continuing the business class service concept renewal that began earlier this year. We also announced that we will launch a new digital service in spring 2019 with the aim of increasing Finland's attractiveness as a tourist destination and facilitating the travel planning of international travelers to Finland.

In addition to this progress, we experienced some headwinds. The exceptionally warm summer in Finland slowed the growth of travel demand, especially in July and August, and later our traffic suffered from delays and cancellations caused by Asian typhoons and operational issues caused by tight supply of spare engines. The cancellations slowed the growth in passenger and ancillary revenue. The rapid capacity increase in our European traffic caused a temporary imbalance between our long- and short-haul capacity, which together with the tightened competition pressed loads and yields in this region. Our result was, however, particularly burdened by the rise in fuel costs by close to a third year-on-year. Our comparable operating result declined somewhat from the comparison period and totaled 108.4 million euros.

In order to safeguard the continuation of profitable growth we will focus on improvements that simultaneously increase our efficiency, increase revenue and improve our customer experience. We also introduce new technologies to enhance all our operations. 

Financial Reporting  

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

• Financial Statements Bulletin 2018:                     15 February 2019
• Interim Report 1 January – 31 March 2019:         24 April 2019
• Half-year report 1 January – 30 June 2019:         17 July 2019
• Interim Report 1 January – 30 September 2019:  22 October 2019 

FINNAIR PLC

Board of Directors

Briefings 

Finnair will hold a results press conference on 25 October 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 7370927. To join the live webcast, please register at: https://slideassist.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1213710 

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 

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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 carrier with a 4-star Skytrax ranking and a member of the oneworld alliance. In 2017, Finnair’s revenues amounted to EUR 2,568 million and it carried almost 12 million passengers. Finnair Plc’s shares are quoted on Nasdaq Helsinki.