Ryanair announce plans to pay shareholder dividends in 2013

Ryanair has today reported how it plans to pay dividends to its shareholders from 2013 for the first time since the company was created.

The Airline has halted talks to buy 200 aircraft from Boeing and will therefore cutting back on it’s spending considerably in the years to come. This seems to indicate that Ryanair, who is Europe's biggest budget airline, seems to have seen the back of it’s days of rapid expanision.

Passenger numbers for last month increased by 12% compared to the same period last year. 2009 overall had increased by 13% to a total of 65.3 million passengers.

Ryanair's chief executive Michael O'Leary commented, "With the unsuccessful termination of our talks with Boeing for a 200 aircraft order in December, planned capital expenditure will now decline from 1.2bn euros in the current year to as little as 100m euros p.a. in fiscal year ending March 2013". He went on to tell reporters "We expect our current cash reserves of 2.5bn euros to grow substantially by March 2013 and we plan to distribute surplus cash to shareholders from that date."

Industry analysts believe that Ryanair miscalculated the market and overexpanded, and therefore the planned order from Boeing is surplus to requirements. It has also been rumoured that Ryanair, who have never paid a dividend before, may not actually deliver the dividend to shareholder as promised.

Ryanair recently announced it had hedged 50% of its fuel requirement for the year ending March 2011. In the past, its profits have been hit by its failure to hedge its fuel costs. Meanwhile, Mr O'Leary said a third bid for rival Irish airline Aer Lingus remained "highly unlikely" unless the Irish government disposed of its 25% stake.