Ryanair has reported a profit of €245m for the first three months of its financial year, up 25% on the same three months of last year, as passenger numbers grew by 16% to 28 million - that's an average of more than two million people flying on Ryanair a week.
In the three months the airline spent €324m and saw share buybacks of €195m - its net cash increased to over €550m, from €364m in March.
David O'Brien, chief commercial officer at Ryanair, said it had been a “very encouraging start” to the second year of its ‘Always Getting Better’ programme, which aims to make the airline more customer-friendly.
He said more changes were also planned in the weeks and months ahead.
“Later in the year you’re going to see new uniforms, menus, a personalised website which will put in front of you what you wish to buy rather than inundate you with offers – and there’s a lot more to come,” he said.
Mr O’Brien said the company was planning to target the German market, which was underserved by low-fairs carriers, with five aircraft being added to Berlin in the winter.
“It certainly has the potential to become our biggest market,” he said, saying it could eventually compare to the likes of Italy, Britain and Spain.
Ryanair had previously planned to open a route to St Petersburg in Russia, however this has since been shelved.
Mr O’Brien said the airline’s thoughts on this has not changed despite the slightly increased chance of Ireland qualifying for the World Cup there in 2018, as he said a flight between Ireland and Russia would be quite a long one for them to undertake.
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Employers group IBEC has called on the Government to boost capital spending next year by €1 billion and ease the income tax burden on higher earners.
In a pre-budget submission to the Department of Finance, the group said a major increase in capital spending was required to tackle infrastructure and investment deficits as the economy recovers.
Although the Government's plan is to concentrate income tax cuts on the universal social charge, Ibec said steps were needed to cut the higher, marginal tax rate and cut the number of workers who pay it.
The group also called for overhaul of childcare, with public funding redirected to services from direct child benefit payments to parents.
It wants a reform of planning rules to increase the supply of new homes, in Dublin particularly.
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UBS - Switzerland's biggest lender reported UBS said in a statement that second quarter adjusted profit before tax of $1.7bn.
Net profit was up 53% from 2014. In its outlook, the bank cautioned that seasonal impacts were likely to affect revenues and profits in the third quarter, pointing to "underlying macroeconomic challenges and geopolitical issues unlikely to be resolved in the foreseeable future."
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Bank of Ireland lent €2.5 billion to small and medium-sized businesses in the first half of the year and approved almost nine out of ten credit applications from the sector, new figures released by the financial institution show.
The credit approvals sum was 18% higher than it was in the first half of 2014, while the rate at which loans were approved remained constant.
The bank released the results on Monday, which was one day early after a newspaper report on the figures on Sunday.
