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International Airlines Group (IAG) Fundamentals


International Consolidated Airlines Group, S.A., also known as International Airlines Group, is the name of an Anglo-Spanish holding company formed on 8 April 2010 as a result of the proposed merger between British Airways and Iberia.


The new company will be the third largest airline holding company in the world by revenue,with 419 aircraft transporting passengers between 200 destinations.The new company will carry over 62 million passengers per year, according to British Airways executives.Both airlines will, however, continue to operate under their current brand names. British Airways shareholders will take a 55% stake in the new company, while Iberia shareholders will own the remaining 45% stake.

Oi!

SEPTEMBER 2015 - IAG GROUP TRAFFIC AND CAPACITY STATISTICS

§ Group traffic in September, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres, increased by 13.9 per cent versus September 2014 (up 4.7 per cent on a pro-forma basis); Group capacity measured in Available Seat Kilometres rose by 13.7 per cent (up 4.4 per cent on a pro-forma basis).

§ Group premium traffic for the month of September increased by 1.6 per cent on a pro-forma basis.

Down 5%!!!!

StockMarketWire.com
International Consolidated Airlines Group's third quarter operating profit €1,250 million before exceptional items (2014: €900 million), excluding Aer Lingus €1,205 million.

Revenue for the quarter up 15.2% at €6,756 million

Passenger unit revenue for the quarter up 6.5%. Excluding Aer Lingus and at constant currency down 3.3%

Fuel unit costs for the quarter down 8.6%, down 19.7% at constant currency.

Non-fuel unit costs for the quarter were up 5.6%. Excluding Aer Lingus and at constant currency down 3.5%.

Operating profit for the nine months was €1,805 million before exceptional items (2014: €1,130 million), up 59.7%, excluding Aer Lingus and exceptional items €1,760 million

Cash of €6,786 million at September 30, 2015 was up €1,842 million on 2014 year end, including €958 million from Aer Lingus.

Adjusted gearing down 2 points to 49 per cent and adjusted net debt to EBITDAR improved 0.1 to 1.8 times.

IAG chief executive Willie Walsh said: "We're reporting strong quarter results with a positive contribution from all of our airlines. IAG made an operating profit before exceptional items of €1,250 million, up from €900 million last year.

"Our passenger unit revenue showed a better trend than in the second quarter of the year and our cost performance remained strong.

"We're delighted to announce IAG's first dividend payment of 10 euro cents per share. For the full year we expect to pay out 25 per cent of our underlying profit after tax in dividends and plan to announce a proposal for a final dividend for 2015 when the full year results are published.

"Aer Lingus made an operating profit of €45 million since it joined IAG on August 18. While the airline's profitability is seasonal, Aer Lingus is cost-effective and provides a natural gateway to build our business between Europe and North America. It's a great asset for the Group."

At current fuel prices and exchange rates, IAG expects to generate an operating profit between €2.25 billion and €2.3 billion for the full year, excluding Aer Lingus.

DeutscheBank comment:
"IAG has reported its third quarter results this morning and our first take is that they are in-line. Expectations of a strong Q3 have been met; IAG has reported Q3 EBIT of E1250m (E1 205m ex-Aer Lingus); the E1205m is in-line with DBE E1 204m and consensus E1 190m. In Q3 (pre-AERL, consFX) passenger unit revenues were down 3.3% (Q2 down 6.6%) against ex-fuel unit costs down 3.5% (Q2 down 6.9%). As is normal at this juncture, IAG has firmed up FY15 EBIT guidance (ex-AERL) to E2250m to E2300m (previously E2200m+). In our view this is broadly in-line with sell-side expectations (DBE E2344m/consensus E2190m), albeit peer results suggest investors may be ahead of this. Aer Lingus was acquired on 18th August 2015 and has contributed E45m of operating profit to date but in Q4-14 lost E31m and so it is reasonable to assume its impact on group FY15 EBIT will be negligible.
In its statement IAG has not given much indication of its Q4/Q1 outlook and so its presentation and conference call will be closely followed at 0900 UKT. Our first glance at the presentation suggests FY15 fuel bill guidance is unchanged at E6.0bn but this now includes AERL as well so there is a small implicit cut. Q4 capacity growth at the group level has been cut from 4.6% to 4.1% with marginal cuts at BA and VY against a slight increase at IB. The Q3 ASK/RASK mix suggests a much improved QoQ pan-network consFX RASK performance with Domestic and Europe particularly strong. The North Atlantic also appears to still be performing very well. Overall, we believe IAG has met the base of expectations ahead of its annual capital markets day on the 6th of November.
Other points: In our view management is unlikely to shed too much light on major strategic issues and will instead address these fully at the capital markets day next week. We believe the focal points will be (i) what IAG plans to do with its excess cash generation, (ii) a strategic update on Aer Lingus and (iii) capacity/capex. On the 2015 dividend, we note the approved interim of E0.10 yesterday which suggests a 50:50 interim:final split going forward if we assume a FY15 25% payout ratio.
Performance into results, valuation: IAG shares have been broadly flat over the last month versus (post yesterday’s movements) LHA +11%, AFKLM -4%, EZJ -3% and RYA flat. It trades on below 8x 2016 PE and 3.7x 2016 EV/EBITDAR. We believe IAG is one of the best opportunities in the sector."

02 Nov 15 Barclays Capital Overweight 580.75 750.00 750.00 Reiterates

02 Nov 15 Beaufort Securities Buy 580.75 - - Upgrades

02 Nov 15 Deutsche Bank Buy 580.75 - 760.00 Reiterates

02 Nov 15 Jefferies International Buy 580.75 700.00 700.00 Reiterates

Those targets are very acceptable to me.

;-)

StockMarketWire.com
International Consolidated Airlines Group will announce a considerable upgrade to its long term return and equity cash flow objectives at its Capital Markets Day today.

Long-term planning goals for 2016-2020 include: - Return on Invested Capital (real terms) targeting sustainable 15% (compared to 12%+ previously)

- An operating profit margin of 12% to 15% (compared to 10% to 14% previously)

- Average EPS growth of 12%+ per annum (compared to 10%+ per annum previously)

- EBITDAR of approximately €5.6bn average per annum (compared to €5bn average per annum previously)

- Capex: targeting less than €2.5bn per annum (compared to €2bn to €3bn per annum previously)

- Equity free-cash flow of €1.5bn to €2.5bn per annum (compared to €1bn to €1.5bn per annum previously)

- ASK growth of approximately 3% to 4% per annum (no change)

- Gearing to be in the investment grade zone (no change) In addition, IAG also announces the following changes in the executive management teams within its operating companies. Keith Williams will be retiring as Executive Chairman of British Airways in April next year and Alex Cruz, currently chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Vueling, will be replacing him. Also, Nick Swift will be stepping down as Chief Financial Officer of British Airways in April next year and Steve Gunning, current Chief Executive Officer of IAG Cargo, will be replacing him. Further appointments will be announced in due course.

Nomura Buy 585.75 750.00 800.00 Retains

DECEMBER 2015 - GROUP TRAFFIC AND CAPACITY STATISTICS

§ Group traffic in December, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres, increased by 10.5 per cent versus December 2014 (up 3.8 per cent on a pro-forma basis); Group capacity measured in Available Seat Kilometres rose by 12.1 per cent (up 4.6 per cent on a pro-forma basis).

§ Including Aer Lingus, for the full year IAG airlines carried almost 95 million passengers in 2015.

§ Group premium traffic for the month of December decreased by 0.3 per cent on a pro-forma basis.

§ The terrorist incidents in Paris in November and the US Government travel advisory had a temporary negative impact on load factors and premium traffic in December. However, our guidance for full-year 2015 operating profit, issued with our third quarter results, remains unchanged.

Credit Suisse Outperform 543.50 852.00 852.00 Reiterates

Deutsche Bank Buy 543.50 760.00 760.00 Reiterates

I would be happy to sell at the target price.
8-)

Barclays Capital Overweight 547.25 750.00 750.00 Reiterates

Final Results

FULL YEAR RESULTS ANNOUNCEMENT

International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) today (February 26, 2016) presented Group consolidated results for the year to December 31, 2015.

IAG period highlights on results:

· Fourth quarter operating profit €540 million excluding Aer Lingus and before exceptional items (2014: operating profit of €260 million), including Aer Lingus €530 million
· Passenger unit revenue for the quarter up 3.1 per cent. Excluding Aer Lingus and at constant currency down 3.7 per cent including approximately 1 point adverse impact from Paris attacks
· Non-fuel unit costs before exceptional items for the quarter up 2.4 per cent. Excluding Aer Lingus and at constant currency down 3.9 per cent
· Fuel unit costs before exceptional items for the quarter down 13.4 per cent, down 23.9 per cent at constant currency
· Operating profit for the year to December 31, 2015 of €2,300 million excluding Aer Lingus and before exceptional items (2014: operating profit of €1,390 million), up 65 per cent, including Aer Lingus €2,335 million
· Revenue for the year up 13.3 per cent to €22,858 million and passenger unit revenue for the year down 3.5 per cent at constant currency
· Fuel unit costs for the year before exceptional items down 6.3 per cent, down 17.2 per cent at constant currency
· Non-fuel unit costs for the year before exceptional items up 4.3 per cent, down 3.9 per cent at constant currency
· Cash of €5,856 million at December 31, 2015 was up €912 million on 2014 year end, including €772 million from Aer Lingus
· Adjusted gearing up 3 points to 54 per cent and adjusted net debt to EBITDAR remained constant at 1.9 times including Aer Lingus

"Dividends

The Board is proposing a final dividend to shareholders of 10 euro cents per share, which brings the full year dividend to 20 euro cents per share. The final dividend will be paid, subject to shareholder approval, on July 4, 2016 to shareholders on the register on July 1, 2016."

Cantor Fitzgerald Hold 550.25 - - Reiterates

Liberum Capital Buy 550.25 700.00 700.00 Retains

TPs.

26-Feb-16 UBS Buy 537.50p - 800.00p Reiteration
19-Feb-16 Credit Suisse Outperform 545.50p - 852.00p Reiteration
15-Feb-16 Bank of America Buy 504.50p 610.00p 610.00p Upgrade
03-Feb-16 UBS Buy 523.50p - 800.00p Reiteration


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Sometimes wonder what the market wants.

.

And so it continues....

02 Mar 15 Jefferies International Buy 552.75 700.00 700.00 Reiterates
02 Mar 16 RBC Capital Markets Outperform 552.75 660.00 660.00 Reiterates

FEBRUARY 2016 - GROUP TRAFFIC AND CAPACITY STATISTICS

§ Group traffic in February, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres, increased by 15.8 per cent versus February 2015 (up 9.5 per cent on a pro-forma basis); Group capacity measured in Available Seat Kilometres rose by 14.0 per cent (up 7.2 per cent on a pro-forma basis).

§ Group premium traffic for the month of February increased by 7.0 per cent on a pro-forma basis.