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Ryanair breaks off talks with Boeing
By John O’Doherty
Published: December 18 2009 07:59 | Last updated: December 18 2009 08:33
The prospect of Ryanair paying a special dividend moved a step closer on Friday after the airline broke off negotiations with Boeing over the order of 200 new airliners.
Ryanair said that as a result, it would now concentrate on its plans to curtail growth so as to redistribute cash to shareholders starting in 2012.
Shares in Ryanair 0.2 per cent or 0.7 cents at €3.40 in early Dublin trading.
In a statement, the airline said that while both parties had agreed on pricing for the new aircraft, Boeing had not been willing to extend some of the other contractual terms and conditions Ryanair currently enjoys to any new order.
“Ryanair has made clear to Boeing that we will not order aircraft if we believe that either the pricing or the other contractual terms and conditions will be inferior to those which we currently enjoy, as this would not be a wise or sensible use of shareholders’ funds,” said Michael O’Leary, Ryanair chief executive.
“We have no plans to reopen discussions with Boeing or any other aircraft manufacturers. Instead we will focus our efforts on maintaining Ryanair’s strong traffic and new route growth into 2010 and we look forward to briefing shareholders in the first quarter of the new year with a revised strategy which will comprise much reduced capital expenditures through 2011 and 2012, thereby generating substantial surplus cash balances for distribution during the period 2012-15.”
Had they been successful, the negotiations would have seen the company take delivery of the 200 new aircraft between 2013 and 2016, but Ryanair will still take delivery of a previously agreed order for 112 new Boeing 737s between now and 2012.
In September, Mr O’Leary openly mulled the possibility of a special dividend for investors, but this was largely in the context of the group’s strong earnings growth this year, with second-quarter profits up 46 per cent.
The company began more seriously to prepare investors for a slowdown in the rate of the company’s growth last month, when Mr O’Leary indicated that the company might grow from 66m passengers this year to 90m in 2012, but then plateau and focus on returning cash to shareholders.
In its 12 years as a listed company, Ryanair has reinvested cash rather than pay a dividend. Mr O’Leary has insisted that any payouts would come in the form of a special dividend rather than a regular stream. However, the prospect of the company paying a dividend, albeit a one-off, will still mark a strong shift in the group’s directions from a stock favoured by investors for the company’s aggressive growth rather than income.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
By John O’Doherty
Published: December 18 2009 07:59 | Last updated: December 18 2009 08:33
The prospect of Ryanair paying a special dividend moved a step closer on Friday after the airline broke off negotiations with Boeing over the order of 200 new airliners.
Ryanair said that as a result, it would now concentrate on its plans to curtail growth so as to redistribute cash to shareholders starting in 2012.
Shares in Ryanair 0.2 per cent or 0.7 cents at €3.40 in early Dublin trading.
In a statement, the airline said that while both parties had agreed on pricing for the new aircraft, Boeing had not been willing to extend some of the other contractual terms and conditions Ryanair currently enjoys to any new order.
“Ryanair has made clear to Boeing that we will not order aircraft if we believe that either the pricing or the other contractual terms and conditions will be inferior to those which we currently enjoy, as this would not be a wise or sensible use of shareholders’ funds,” said Michael O’Leary, Ryanair chief executive.
“We have no plans to reopen discussions with Boeing or any other aircraft manufacturers. Instead we will focus our efforts on maintaining Ryanair’s strong traffic and new route growth into 2010 and we look forward to briefing shareholders in the first quarter of the new year with a revised strategy which will comprise much reduced capital expenditures through 2011 and 2012, thereby generating substantial surplus cash balances for distribution during the period 2012-15.”
Had they been successful, the negotiations would have seen the company take delivery of the 200 new aircraft between 2013 and 2016, but Ryanair will still take delivery of a previously agreed order for 112 new Boeing 737s between now and 2012.
In September, Mr O’Leary openly mulled the possibility of a special dividend for investors, but this was largely in the context of the group’s strong earnings growth this year, with second-quarter profits up 46 per cent.
The company began more seriously to prepare investors for a slowdown in the rate of the company’s growth last month, when Mr O’Leary indicated that the company might grow from 66m passengers this year to 90m in 2012, but then plateau and focus on returning cash to shareholders.
In its 12 years as a listed company, Ryanair has reinvested cash rather than pay a dividend. Mr O’Leary has insisted that any payouts would come in the form of a special dividend rather than a regular stream. However, the prospect of the company paying a dividend, albeit a one-off, will still mark a strong shift in the group’s directions from a stock favoured by investors for the company’s aggressive growth rather than income.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009