Jet2 has moved to bolster its balance sheet via a £387.4 million bond offering and a £150 million loan.
The extra funding comes on top of almost £1 billion raised in the past year to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, including £200 million from the Bank of England’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility.
The UK’s second largest travel group aims to recommence flying on June 24.
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In a statement to the London Stock Exchange, Jet2 said: “Unsurprisingly, current customer booking trends for summer 2021 reflect the availability of truly accessible, UK government approved destinations.
“However, given the continued short-term uncertainty, we remain encouraged by the volume of customer bookings to date for both winter 2021-22 and for summer 2022, for which package holiday bookings are displaying a materially higher mix of the total.
“Based on this limited visibility, we are confident that once normality returns, our customers will be determined to enjoy the wonderful experience of a well-deserved Jet2 holiday and that Jet2.com and Jet2holidays will continue to have a thriving future, taking millions of UK holidaymakers annually, to the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands and to European leisure cities.”
The offering aims to complement Jet2’s existing capital structure and take advantage of the current financing environment by issuing convertible bonds.
“The proceeds of the issuance of the convertible bonds will be used to strengthen Jet2’s balance sheet further and position the company for a strong recovery as lockdown restrictions are lifted, through fleet growth and fleet renewal opportunities,” Jet2 said.
“In addition to the convertible bonds and the company’s existing revolving credit facility, Jet2 has also signed a new unsecured £150 million term loan maturing in September 2023 as further liquidity to enhance balance sheet capability and flexibility.
“These transactions together, further improve the ability for Jet2.com and Jet2holidays to capitalise on any upturn opportunities, benefiting all stakeholders, including shareholders.”
The group said its financial position at 31 March 21 comprised unaudited total cash of £1.3 billion and ‘own cash’ – excluding advance customer deposits – of £1 billion, an increase of 104% on the previous financial year end.
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