For the full year 2014, Air Lease Corporation (ALC) posted revenues of $1 billion – a rise of 22% compared to $859 million for the year ended December 31, 2013. This is the first time ALC has generated over $1bn in its history.
Income before taxes increased 35% to $395 million with a pretax profit margin of 38% for the year compared to income before taxes of $293 million with a pretax profit margin of 34% in 2013.
For the fourth quarter of 2014, ALC revenues increased 18% to $286 million, with income before taxes up by 19% to $108 million with a pretax profit margin of 38% for the three months period.
ALC recorded $20 million in gains on aircraft sales, trading and other activity for the three months ended December 31, 2014 compared to $17 million in gains on aircraft sales, trading and other activity.
ALC has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.04 per share on its outstanding common stock. The dividend will be paid on April 7, 2015 to holders of record of our common stock as of March 20, 2015.
Diluted EPS increased 32% to $2.38 per share for the year ended December 31, 2014 compared to $1.80 per share for the year ended December 31, 2013. Diluted EPS increased 18% to $0.65 per share for the three months ended December 31, 2014 compared to $0.55 per share for the three months ended December 31, 2013.
“Air Lease Corporation concluded 2014 by generating over $1 billion in annual revenue for the very first time. At the same time, we delivered record profitability with a 38% pre-tax profit margin. Air Lease is now celebrating its fifth birthday as a Company and we are pleased with the consistency of our financial and operating results since inception. ALC's business prospects look strong as the demand for our new technology aircraft remains robust,” said Steven F. Udvar-Házy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Air Lease Corporation.
“Global passenger traffic grew 5.9% in 2014, continuing the strong global trends which underpin the need for aircraft. The market is healthy for new aircraft and we see a great deal of interest in the used market as well. We seized on opportunities during the quarter, recording gains of $20 million on sales, trading and other activity. We kicked off 2015 by issuing a $600 million seven year senior unsecured investment grade bond, with a fixed interest rate of 3.75%. This issuance continues our trend of raising attractively priced long dated financing and enhancing our investment grade credit profile,” said John L. Plueger, President and Chief Operating Officer of Air Lease Corporation.
As of December 31, 2014, ALC owned 213 aircraft in our operating lease portfolio and leased the aircraft to a globally diversified customer base of 77 airlines in 46 countries. During the quarter ended December 31, 2014, ALC delivered nine aircraft from its new order pipeline. In addition, the lessor sold eight aircraft from its operating lease portfolio during the quarter ended December 31, 2014. As of December 31, 2014, ALC managed 17 aircraft for third parties.
ALC ended 2014 with total debt outstanding of $6.7 billion as compared to $5.9 billion as of December 31, 2013. Total unsecured debt outstanding was $5.5 billion compared to $4.3 billion in 2013, the company has increased its unsecured debt as a percentage of total debt to 82.3% as of December 31, 2014 compared to 73.4% as of December 31, 2013. ALC’s fixed rate debt as a percentage of total debt increased to 75.2% as of December 31, 2014 from 61.9% as of December 31, 2013. Since the end of 2014, ALC has issued $600.0 million in senior unsecured notes maturing in 2022 with a fixed interest rate of 3.75%.
ALC has a debt to equity ratio of 2.42:1 and available liquidity of $2.1 billion.