www.flybe.com

Flybe Group plc



FLYBE GROUP REACHES AGREEMENT WITH RYANAIR TO CREATE FLYBE IRELAND IN THE EVENT OF A SUCCESSUL BID BY RYANAIR FOR AER LINGUS



The Board of Flybe Group plc ('Flybe') has today announced that it has reached agreement with Ryanair Holdings PLC ('Ryanair') over the possible transfer of a number of aircraft and operating routes as part of a package of remedies that Ryanair has submitted to the European Commission DG Competition ('EC'), in the context of its offer for Aer Lingus Group PLC ('Aer Lingus')



The proposed transaction is contingent upon the EC's approval of Ryanair's proposed remedies and a successful bid by Ryanair for Aer Lingus. If Ryanair's acquisition of Aer Lingus is completed, Flybe expects to seek formal shareholder approval for the acquisition of Flybe Ireland from Ryanair in early Autumn 2013.



Flybe also announces that it has received irrevocable acceptances representing 64% of the shareholders in support of this possible transaction. The European Commission had insisted on the pledging of irrevocable acceptances by over 50% of Flybe's shareholders as a condition precedent for the deal to create Flybe Ireland proceeding.



There will be a conference call for analysts and investors at 11am this morning. To register your attendance, please contact Helen Tarbet on 020 7457 2025 or helen.tarbet@collegehill.com

I suppose it's rude to ask if there are any "shareholder perks" - like free flights when the planes is half empty, or a wee dram . . . ?

Never followed this one but I see Exec Smith is non too good with share purchases . . lost 82% on £40k iinvestment a while back and recent gain with just £900 invested has hardly balanced two further small losses when he invested a bit more(twice).

Did anyone attend today's conference-call . . . why wouldn't FB want to fly to Ireland? Well, because RyanAir is there and it's not particularly sunny IMHO . . that's two reasons, but no-doubt they will push ahead . . "...better to do something, than nowt..." I hear said.

13 May 2013

Flybe Group plc

("Flybe" or "the Company")

Re: Press speculation

Flybe notes the recent speculation in the press. The Board announces that it is in discussions with a number of parties which may or may not lead to a transaction regarding the exchange for compensation payment of the Arrival and Departure Slots at Gatwick Airport. Discussions are on-going and there can be no certainty as to whether any transaction will be forthcoming. A further announcement will be made as soon as appropriate.

The new chief executive, Saad Hammad is due to take over in August and it will be interesting to see how he intends to turn this company around. Share price was about £3.40 in 2010, so it's had a disastrous few years, but it could be a good recovery play. On my watchlist right now.

Interim Management Statement

Highlights[1]

Group

· Trading in line with expectations.
· Revenue under management[2] up 18.5% to £229.0 million due to increased contract flying activity in Flybe Finland, Flybe's joint venture with Finnair.
· Group revenue increased by 0.7% to £164.2 million (Q1 2012/13: £163.0 million).
· Good progress on implementation of Phase 1 of Flybe's turnaround plan:
o 2.9% reduction in total costs in Q1 2013/14 (excluding restructuring and revaluation of USD aircraft loans).
o Cost savings from Phase 2 of the turnaround plan are expected to result in additional year-on-year cost reductions from Q2 2013/14 onwards.
· Total cash at 30 June 2013 was £54.6 million (30 June 2012: £59.8 million), of which £23.6 million was free cash.

Flybe UK

· Scheduled seats flown were 3.0 million, down 1.6% on Q1 2012/13.
· Flybe UK generated total revenues of £152.4 million in Q1 2013/14, down 1.2% on Q1 2012/13.
· Passengers totalled 2.0 million, up 4.9% on Q1 2012/13, representing 4.3 ppts increase in load factor to 66.5% (Q1 2012/13: 62.2%).
· Passenger revenue per scheduled seat of £48.20 was in line with Q1 2012/13.
· Costs per seat for the quarter to 30 June 2013 decreased by 1.9%.
· Fuel hedged at $988 per tonne for 80% of forecast burn in Q2 2013/14, and 73% hedged for H2 2013/14 at $992 per tonne.

Result of AGM

Chart looks good.

I've just bought some mitzy - been on my list of my list of possible buys for a few weeks now. New man at the helm and it could be a great recovery play. imo

An even better chart!

I remember it floated at 300p ish and downhill ever since time to buy maybe.
..interesting 1 year chart anyhow.

Who said 'look at the gap in the chart' ! :-)

Thanks to bruceylegs on another bulletin board for this;

Interesting profile/interview with Saad Hammad by the FT dated 31 July. He talks about his turnaournd plans and region-based strategy which bring to mind Thomas Cook and Dart...

"When Saad Hammad steps into the top role at Flybe on Thursday he faces a challenge: lifting the struggling airline out of loss and getting it fit to compete.
It will not be the first time that Mr Hammad has trodden the turnround path.
While he was chief commercial officer at easyJet from 2005-2009, the airline went from a period of profit warnings to growth. As managing director of private equity group Gores, which he has just left, he steered business transformations at Siemens corporate telephony and at Mexx.
He comes to the regional carrier with the aim of getting it to break even next year, after a year in which losses piled up sevenfold to £40.7m.
The process will be comparable to that at easyJet, Mr Hammad says, although the intention is not to “easyJetify” Flybe.
“I had a similar encounter at easyJet when I walked in,” he says. “They’d had two profit warnings, there was a lot of dysfunction. They didn’t have a structured process in terms of route selection and, critically, route management.”
It is early days, but Mr Hammad has formulated some hypotheses. A shake-up in strategy will sharpen Flybe’s offering with a better mix of destinations and more appropriate schedule, for lower fares. The hope is that it will get its aircraft fuller – Flybe has a load factor of 62.6 per cent while easyJet and Ryanair are into the 80s.
In its quest to stabilise its core UK market less popular routes will be dropped. But Mr Hammad believes that Flybe’s strength lies in the thinner routes where the low-cost carriers, with their larger aircraft, would find less profit.
“There are certain routes they cannot fly and we need to maximise those before we go head-on against them. On a direct airport level there is hardly any overlap with Ryanair and only a handful of routes where there is overlap with easyJet.”
On the southeast’s flight capacity constraints, Mr Hammad is clear that there should be extra, price-controlled capacity, at Gatwick, or Heathrow, which he veers towards, as “the more logical place to do it in terms of the wider benefits”.
Flybe will “rebalance”, tilting away from the three-quarters of its capacity it deploys domestically, to develop routes to Europe from its bases of Southampton, Birmingham, Manchester and Belfast.
Southampton, only an hour from London by train, holds special potential, Mr Hammad says, with an opportunity to lure passengers from other airports.
“It’s getting into the head of customers, understanding not just what they want but what they don’t want: hassle, congestion, delays.”
But with attention fixing on the UK, contract flying now moves down the list of priorities. Flybe Finland, run with Finnair, made revenues of £167.2m in its financial year to March 31, and previous chief executive Jim French had identified it as a growth area.
“Jim and the team succeeded in securing something with Finnair so full credit there,” he says. But while optimising that business is desirable, “you can’t do contract flying with other European national airlines if your core UK business is not solid; they’re going to be very nervous dealing with you.”
Being able to make decisions like the one on contract flying was essential to Mr Hammad accepting the role, given Mr French’s deep involvement with Flybe’s history.
“I really needed to make sure that there would be a total division of labour and clarity of roles between me and Jim; that I effectively would have a free hand running the business and he would be a non-executive chairman. He assured me he would not be a back-seat driver – that would give me a free hand to effect the transformation that Flybe needs.”
The airline is well down the path of that transformation now, with £30m in costs already cut, with a target of £50m by 2014-15.
It has sufficient cash to see it through 12 months, Mr Hammad says, and he is firm that he will take “self-help measures that can generate cash”, such as non-core asset disposals, before he would contemplate any action such as a rights issue. Getting a higher proportion of leisure travellers, who book earlier, will aid earnings visibility.
“There’s a lot of hard work ahead but we’ve got a great business.”

Interesting and positive chart analysis from "fingers" today on another bulletin board, (fxd thread).

whatd he say..?

mitzy, I would post the link but I can understand moneyam wouldn't be happy about that, so here is a brief version of "fingers" take on the chart:

" It has now been two years since the 'gap down' and I consider the move back into the 'range' ( 59p - 79p ) as a signal that 'market confidence' is starting to return.. I would now expect the price to keep moving up to attack the 79p range 'ceiling' and on the way I would anticipate a short rise with any 'confirmed' breakout of the 69p mid range level.. ( when the eventual upside range breakout occurs expect a relatively quick rise to the 100p level )

from the photo it certainly doesn't need a leg up!

2 gaps to fill here, with an eventual target of a quid.

Its looking a tad overbought atm, so maybe tread water for a while?

I'd say it is a breakout from a year ago .

Mostly all buys this morning.

Looking strong today.