Vietjet reports first quarter profits of over USD65 million

Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company (HOSE: VJC) has just released its consolidated financial statement for the first quarter of 2018 with significant growth for the airline that exceeds expectations.

The airline’s revenue stood at VND12,560 billion (USD552 million), a year-on-year increase of 146% that is attributed to growth in passenger transport, ancillary service and sales and leaseback revenue.

The airline’s fleet expansion, coupled with the opening of new international routes, raised its transport revenue to VND6,035 billion (USD265 million), an increase of 52% over the same period last year, and 10% higher than the company’s target. Vietjet’s core business profit was increased to nearly VND737 billion (USD32 million), a 74% jump over the previous year’s figure. Ancillary revenue also increased to VND1,825 billion (USD80 million), a rise of 64% year-on-year.

The positive results in revenue growth contributed significantly to the company’s gross profit of VND1,810 billion (USD79 million), a 135% increase year-on-year. At the same time, sales and management costs also increased at a lower rate compared to revenue growth. Therefore, Vietjet’s profit before tax in this quarter stood at VND1,480 billion (USD65 million), an increase of 254% compared to Q1 2017. After-tax profit of the parent company’s shareholders stood at VND1,366 billion (USD60 million), a 263% increase. Earnings per share in this quarter stood at VND3,026 (USD0.13), one of the highest EPS on the Vietnamese stock market.

Vietjet’s Q1 results were 25.5% over the airline’s original target of VND50,970 billion (USD2.24 billion) in revenue and VND5,806 billion (USD255 million) in profit before tax for 2018.

In the first quarter of 2018, Vietjet operated 28,830 safe flights with the technical reliability rate of 99.7%, and with the safety performance indicators of flight as well as ground operation amongst the top in the region. The on-time performance in the first quarter stood at 83.4%. During Q1, Vietjet also announced plans to open international routes to India and Australia in line with its plans to expand its international flight network after having achieved full coverage on the domestic network.

The airline’s stellar Q1 performance was further buoyed by the naming of Vietjet as the region’s top fastest growing airline by Singapore’s Changi Airport.

As of March 31, 2018, Vietjet’s undistributed profit after tax was VND6,724 billion (USD295 million). The company will pay a cash dividend of 10% on May 25, 2018 to its shareholders and is on its way to finalizing the necessary procedures at the State Securities Commission of Vietnam to settle the remaining 20% dividend of 2017 by shares. Earlier last week at the 2018 General Shareholders Meeting, the shareholders also agreed with a proposal to pay dividends of 50% of its profits in 2018.