Aircraft lessor FLY Leasing announced Q4/15 net income was $27.7 million, up from $15.5 million for the same quarter a year earlier. Full-year 2015 net income of $6.6 million was down from $56.1 million for the same period in 2014 primarily as a result of an aircraft impairment charge of $84.3 million. Revenues for the full-year 2015 were $470.6 million, up 10.3% from $426.7 million a year earlier.
The following highlights were excerpted from the news release:
“FLY has completed a major transformation, and enters 2016 with a leaner, younger and more profitable fleet, and poised for intelligent growth,” said Colm Barrington, CEO of FLY. “Our aircraft sales and related strategic initiatives have reduced business risk, lowered our SG&A expenses and cost of debt, and generated substantial cash. In the last few months, we have used our cash to repurchase $100 million in shares, at prices significantly below FLY’s book value per share.”
“The airline industry continues to be strong, with IATA reporting a more than 6.5% increase in revenue passenger kilometers in 2015, and record airline profits,” added Barrington. “Traffic and financial forecasts for 2016 are even more buoyant, with airlines’ business being strongly supported by lower fuel prices. These factors are supporting a strong demand for leased aircraft; in FLY’s case we have all but one of our 2016 redeliveries committed.”
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