Jet2 launches £250m share buyback, delivers solid Q1 trading performance
Leisure travel group Jet2 announced a £250.0m share buyback on Tuesday as it outlined a solid FY25 trading performance despite uncertainty across the wider travel sector.
Jet2 said it expects to report a profit before foreign exchange revaluation and taxation of between £565.0m and £570.0m for the year ended 31 March, excluding £10.0m of profit on the disposal of assets, primarily from its retired Boeing 757-200 aircraft fleet.
"This represents another year of healthy profit growth, up approximately 9% on the prior year and is in line with current market expectations," said Jet2.
The London-listed firm also said that notwithstanding the early repayment of its £387.4m convertible bond during the year, its balance sheet position "remains strong", with total cash of £3.2bn at the end of FY25 and an 'Own Cash' balance of £1.1bn.
As a result of its "sustainable cash generative business model and strong balance sheet", Jet2 now intends to launch an on-market share buyback programme of up to £250.0m. It then expects to cancel those shares upon buyback, providing a positive enhancement to earnings per share.
Looking ahead, Jet2 stated "on sale capacity" for summer 2025 was currently 8.3% higher than summer 2024 at 18.6m seats, with its new bases at Bournemouth and London Luton airports contributing approximately 4% of this growth.
As of 0915 BST, Jet2 shares had surged 15.87% to 1,564.18p.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com