Ryanair net profit hit by Italy fine

LONDON: Irish no-frills airline Ryanair on Monday announced a sharp drop in net profit for its third quarter, weighed down by a hefty fine from Italy’s competition authority.

Profit after tax stood at 30 million euros ($36 million) in the three months to the end of December compared with 149 million euros one year earlier, the Dublin-based carrier said in a statement.

The decline was largely driven by a provision for a more than 255-million-euro fine imposed by the Italian regulator, which said Ryanair abused its dominant position to block travel agencies’ access to its services.

Ryanair confirmed Monday it has appealed the fine, calling it “baseless”.

Group revenue jumped nine percent to 3.21 billion euros.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said full-year net profit could reach as much as 2.23 billion euros.

“The final… outcome remains exposed to adverse external developments,” in the fourth quarter, he noted in the earnings release.

This includes “conflict escalation in Ukraine and the Mid. East, macro-economic shocks and any further impact of repeated European ATC strikes and mismanagement”.

O’Leary added that he expected full-year traffic to reach almost 208 million passengers, or annual gain of four percent.