Blueprint
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 6-K
Report of Foreign Private Issuer
Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
For the
month of October
2018
RYANAIR HOLDINGS PLC
(Translation
of registrant's name into English)
c/o Ryanair Ltd Corporate Head Office
Dublin
Airport
County Dublin Ireland
(Address
of principal executive offices)
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant files or will file
annual
reports
under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.
Form
20-F..X.. Form 40-F
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the
information
contained
in this Form is also thereby furnishing the information to
the
Commission
pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities
Exchange
Act of
1934.
Yes
No ..X..
If
"Yes" is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the
registrant
in
connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): 82- ________
RYANAIR CUTS FY19 GUIDANCE BY 12% DUE TO HIGHER OIL PRICES, HIGHER
EU261 COSTS, & WEAKER FARES DUE TO RECENT STRIKES
Ryanair
today (1 Oct.) lowered its full year profit guidance (excluding
Laudamotion) from a current range of €1.25bn - €1.35bn,
to a new range of €1.10bn - €1.20bn due
to:
- Lower
traffic and weaker close in fares in September, caused by 2 days of
coordinated
pilot/cabin crew strikes in Germany, Holland, Belgium, Spain and
Portugal;
- Lower
Q3 fares as forward bookings (particularly for the Oct school
mid-terms and
Christmas) and customer confidence are affected by fear of further
strikes;
- Higher
EU261 care and re-accommodation costs arising from these recent
strikes; and
- Higher
prices ($82pbl) for our unhedged oil (10%).
Ryanair noted that Q2 & Q3 traffic and fares will be somewhat
lower than expected largely as a result of these 2 recent -5
country- strikes, which are being incited by competitor
employees,
despite the fact that Ryanair has agreed to meet union demands for
local contracts, local law, and a 5 week arbitration with pilots in
Germany when the VC Union sought a prolonged 5 month
arbitration.
Ryanair's Michael O'Leary said:
"While we successfully managed 5 strikes by 25% of our Irish pilots
this summer, 2 recent coordinated strikes by cabin crew and pilots
across 5 EU countries has affected passenger numbers (through
flight cancellations), close in bookings and yields (as we
re-accommodate disrupted passengers), and forward air fares into
Q3. While we regret these disruptions, we have on both strike days
operated over 90% of our schedule. However, customer confidence,
forward bookings and Q3 fares has been affected, most notably over
the Oct school mid-terms and Christmas, in those 5 countries where
unnecessary strikes have been repeated.
These strikes have also added to our EU261 costs while, at the same
time, our unhedged fuel costs have jumped as oil prices rise to
$82pbl which affects 10% of volumes, and all of Laudamotion's fuel
bill.
Like a number of other EU airlines, we have decided to trim our
winter 2018 capacity (by 1%) in response to this lower fare, higher
oil and higher EU261 cost environment. We are today implementing
the following modest winter cuts (all from Mon. 5
Nov.)
- Our
4 aircraft Eindhoven base will close, but most routes to/from
Eindhoven will continue on overseas based
aircraft.
- Our
2 aircraft Bremen base will close with most routes continuing on
non-German aircraft.
- Our
5 aircraft Niederrhein base will be cut to 3 aircraft with most
routes continuing on the remaining 3 aircraft.
All affected customers have been contacted by email/SMS this
morning and will be
re-accommodated on other flights or refunded as they so wish. We
will also now consult with our pilots and cabin crew at these 3
bases to minimise job losses. We expect to offer our pilots
vacancies at other Ryanair bases but, as we have a large surplus of
winter cabin crew, we will explore unpaid leave and other options
to minimise cabin crew job losses.
Revised Outlook (excl. Laudamotion):
We now guide FY19 PAT in a new range of €1.10bn to
€1.20bn (previously €1.25bn to €1.35bn). Q2
fares are down approx. 3% (previously guided +1%) due to the
weakness caused to close-in bookings and fares mainly as a result
of these 2 (5 country) co-ordinated strikes in Sept. We had until
last week expected stronger Q3 fares to recover softer Q2 yields
but over the past week Q3 fares, and customer confidence, have been
affected by worries about possible strikes. We are now guiding H2
fares down 2% (previously flat). Our fuel bill will be
approx. €460m higher (previously €430m) than last year
and "Other Costs" will be negatively impacted by higher EU261 care
and re-accommodation costs. Our slower traffic growth in H2 will
cut FY19 traffic to 138m (previously 139m excluding
Laudamotion).
Since Ryanair agreed to recognise unions in Dec. 2017, we have made
substantial progress with our union negotiations in major markets
including Ireland, the UK, and more recently Italy, where we have
signed multiyear CLA's with our pilots and cabin crew. Regrettably
such progress has been impeded in Spain, Portugal, Germany,
Holland, and Belgium where we've experienced interference in
negotiations with our people and their unions, even when we offer
them what they ask for (i.e. local contracts), in writing. When we
have successfully negotiated agreements with unions in Ireland, the
UK and Italy, and when we have offered local contracts and improved
T&C's to our people in Belgium, Holland, Germany, Portugal and
Spain, it is clear that these disruptions are unnecessary, and
ill-judged at a time when other airlines are also cutting winter
capacity.
Ryanair cannot rule out further disruptions in Q3, which may
require full year guidance to be lowered further and may
necessitate further trimming of loss making winter capacity.
Shareholders should note that the above guidance excludes start up
(exceptional) losses in Laudamotion of approx. €150m (which
will be consolidated into the Ryanair Group FY19, H1 and FY
financial results)".
ENDS.
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For further information
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Neil Sorahan
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Piaras Kelly
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please contact:
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Ryanair Holdings plc
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Edelman
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www.ryanair.com
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Tel: 353-1-9451212
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Tel: 353-1-6789333
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Certain of the information included in this release is forward
looking and is subject to important risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ materially. It is not
reasonably possible to itemise all of the many factors and specific
events that could affect the outlook and results of an airline
operating in the European economy. Among the factors that are
subject to change and could significantly impact Ryanair's expected
results are the airline pricing environment, fuel costs,
competition from new and existing carriers, market prices for the
replacement aircraft, costs associated with environmental, safety
and security measures, actions of the Irish, U.K., European Union
("EU") and other governments and their respective regulatory
agencies, uncertainties surrounding Brexit, weather related
disruptions, fluctuations in currency exchange rates and interest
rates, airport access and charges, labour relations, the economic
environment of the airline industry, the general economic
environment in Ireland, the UK and Continental Europe, the general
willingness of passengers to travel and other economics, social and
political factors and unforeseen security events.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant
to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf
by the undersigned, hereunto duly authorized.
Date: 01
October,
2018
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By:___/s/
Juliusz Komorek____
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Juliusz
Komorek
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Company
Secretary
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