Time for Ryanair to divvy up profit?

Nobody can quibble at Ryanair's success in consistently growing earnings at more than 20 per cent a year, and Michael O'Leary is convinced that he can maintain that growth.

Likewise, there is no question that Ryanair stands apart from the bloated flag carriers like BA, Lufthansa, KLM and Alitalia and low-cost but loss-making competitors like BA's Go, KLM's Buzz and Richard Branson's Virgin Express. But does Ryanair warrant the sort of premium that it currently enjoys - 40 times last year's earnings and 35 times forecast 2000 earnings?

At this sort of level, Ryanair is trading at twice the rating of Southwest, the American low-cost carrier which is Ryanair's own role model and on which its operations have been modelled.

That sort of rating expects explosive growth and the question is can Ryanair provide then growth to support a share price above €8.00 (£6.30). Remember, the share has almost doubled in the past year and the upside from here may be limited.

Getting growth from smaller airports in Sardinia and the south of Italy is all very well, but will that growth be sufficient to compensate for the mature profile of Ryanair's big city routes to London, Dublin, Paris, Brussels and Stockholm.

There is a temptation to take profit from Ryanair at these levels, although so far the share has shown a remarkable resilience and has bounced back quickly when it has fallen below the €8 level. The sort of volumes being traded suggest there is no rush to sell. Still, the question mark over the rating remains.

Given the strength of the balance sheet, the huge cash generation and the strength of the business, would a dividend not be a reasonable idea? OK, Ryanair has heavy financial commitments for expanding its fleet and many of its shareholders don't expect a dividend, but it would be one way to maintain shareholder loyalty.

Michael Cawley was dismissive of such an idea this week, and said - with some justification given Ryanair's price history - that share price growth was the best way of providing a return to shareholders. But a modest dividend would not eat unduly into Ryanair's profit and loss account and would be a way to keep many shareholders, who might be thinking of taking a profit, on the plane .