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Jet2 PLC on Wednesday reported slightly higher profit in the first half of its financial year, but its shares rose as the airline and package holiday operator improved its dividend and started a new share buyback worth £100 million. Jet2 shares were up 3.3% to 1,344.19 pence on Wednesday morning in London, though they remain down 5.5% over the past year. The Leeds, England-based company has a market capitalisation of £2.72 billion, making it one of the largest stocks traded on AIM. Pretax profit was £800.3 million in the six months that ended September 30, up 1.1% from £791.4 million a year before, as revenue rose by 4.9% to £5.34 billion from £5.09 billion. Operating profit was up 2.0% to £715.2 million from £701.5 million. It represented ‘another record performance in terms of passenger numbers, revenue and profitability’. ‘We experienced robust demand for our flight-only product with flown passengers rising by 16% to 4.77 million,’ Jet2 said. The company is on track to deliver annual results in line with market expectations, which it says is for operating profit of £453 million, when excluding start-up costs connected to London Gatwick Airport, where it recently announced a new base. This would be up from £446.5 million in financial 2025. A second half loss is expected, ‘as is typical for the group’. Airlines, particularly leisure airlines, tend to lose money in the winter months and make up for this in the summer. ‘The closer to departure booking profile experienced during summer 2025 has continued, with average pricing to date for both our leisure travel products following a similar trend to summer 2025 and marketing spend being reinvested into pricing where appropriate, as previously announced,’ Jet2 said. ‘In addition, to fully capitalise on the strategic opportunity at London Gatwick airport, the group will incur promotional and resourcing start-up costs to firmly establish Jet2’s operations and market leading customer service ahead of operational launch in late March 2026.’ Jet2 declared an interim dividend of 4.5 pence per share up 2.3% from 4.4p a year before. The new share buyback worth £100 million will begin at the start of next month and be completed by the end of June next year. It will be run by Jefferies International Ltd. Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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