Report by
John Lavabre
RYANAIR
chief executive officer Michael O’Leary is to sell three million of his 30
million shares in the low-cost airline.
At the
same time a further 10 million shares in Ryanair are to be sold. O’Leary made
the announcement as Ryanair, which sells only 8% of tickets through travel
agents, released its results for the third quarter ending December 30 2000.
The money
raised from the share sales will be used to finance the purchase of 13 Boeing
737-800 aircraft.
The
results show that Ryanair has increased its revenue by 28% to £73.2 million compared
to last year’s figure of £57.1 million. Profit after tax was £21.3 million, an
increase of 42% on last year. Passenger
numbers have risen by 39% from 1.36 million in December 1999 to 1.89 million in
December last year.
O’Leary
said Ryanair will be announcing six new destinations, increased frequency to
established destinations and a new European base by the end of the month.
“This summer’s expansion is designed to enable Ryanair to
grow to nine million passengers over the coming year making us not just the
largest low-fares carrier, but one of the top ten international scheduled
airlines (by traffic numbers) in Europe.”