 disappointed investors on Tuesday, reporting a heavy loss of £212 million in the six months to March.){kind=link}
Budget airline Easyjet (LON:EZJ) disappointed investors on Tuesday, reporting a heavy loss of £212 million in the six months to March.
The figure is a sharp increase on the £21 million loss in the same period last year, with the company attributing it to a later Easter and the impact of weak sterling in the wake of the Brexit vote.
The heavy loss comes despite record number of passengers for the first six months of the 2017 financial year at 33.8 million, up 9 percent year-on-year with a record first half load factor at 90.2 percent. The airline also saw capacity increase by 8.4 percent.
Total revenue grew 3.2 percent to £1.827 billion, with the firm’s chief executive Carolyn McCall saying the company had delivered a “resilient performance”.
“The first half loss is in line with market expectations and reflects the movement of Easter into the second half as well as currency effects which together had an estimated impact of circa £127 million on the bottom line.
“Our bookings for the summer are ahead of last year showing that demand to fly remains strong and reflects growing evidence that consumers are prioritising expenditure on flights and holidays above other non-essential items.
“Looking ahead, we are seeing an improving revenue per seat trend as well as the continued reduction of competitor capacity growth,” McCall concluded.
However investors were unimpressed with the results, sending shares shares down 6 percent in early trading. Easyjet is currently trading down 5.65 percent at 1,236.00 (0908GMT).