Fly Leasing to return $100m to shareholders

Fly Leasing, the aircraft financier led by former Aer Lingus chairman, Colm Barrington, plans to return $100 million (€93m) to investors by repurchasing some of their shares.

Dublin-based Fly Leasing, of which Mr Barrington is chief executive, said on Thursday that a $65.4 million writedown of the value of its aircraft left it with a loss of $21.1 million for the nine months ended September 30th.

Net income in the third quarter - the three months ended September 30th - rose 22.5 per cent to $19.9 million from $15.4 million during the same period in 2014.

Revenues for the third quarter rose by more than 6 per cent to $104.3 million from $98 million during the same three-month period last year. Nine-month revenues rose by just less than 10 per cent to $311 million from $283 million.

Fly announced that its board has approved a $100 million share repurchase programme that replaces its dividend.

Mr Barrington said that the programme would accelerate the return of capital to shareholders and boost both returns on equity and earnings per share.

Fly’s total assets stood at $4 billion at the end of September. This included $2.6 billion worth of aircraft for lease and $796.1 million held for sale.

It had 83 Airbus and Boeing craft leased to 43 clients in 26 countries on September 30th. It also had 33 planes for sale at that point.

The company has been selling older aircraft and buying newer planes cutting its fleet age and costs.

“Our third-quarter results demonstrate our progress in selling older and underperforming assets, enhancing our fleet metrics and reducing costs,” Mr Barrington noted.