Profits at Avolon rise 43% to $179m

Profits at Aircraft lessor, Avolon, rose 43 per cent to $179 million (€160.3 million) in 2014, according to its maiden full-year results since list in New York in December.

The Irish-based aircraft financier said revenues advance by 35 per cent to $606 million last year, as the airline sold nine aircraft in 2014 recording a total gain of $64 million.

The business generated an income of $179 million compared to $113 million in 2013. However, once a number of costs associated with its flotation dented this figure, leaving it with net income for the year of $93 million.

Chief executive, Dómhnall Slattery, said the company already has airline customers committed to leasing the 31 aircraft, worth a total of $1.6 billion, that are due for delivery to it this year.

“As of today, Avolon has already done its business for 2015, with 10 months of the year to go,” he said. Mr Slattery added that it is already in talks with customers regarding craft that are due for delivery next year.

The 126 planes that it owned at the end of 2014 were worth $5.6 billion. A year earlier it had 27 fewer craft on its books, which were valued at $4.26 billion.

Avolon’s balance sheet shows that net assets were $1.4 billion on December 31st.

Revenues in the final three months of last year rose 39 per cent to $173 million. The business lost $13 million during the period as a result of the once-off flotation costs, but its operations delivered a profit of $49 million.

In a statement, Mr Slattery said that the company delivered a strong performance against key financial and operating metrics in 2014.

“The strength of this performance is due to the strong growth in our fleet, our reducing cost of funding balanced origination model and consistent ability to deliver trading gains underpinned by what we believe is the industry’s leading risk-management system,” he said.