Ireland-based lessor Avolon released its full year results today which included a full year profit of $718m and an increase in unencumbered assets by 71% to $14.9 billion in 2019.
Lease revenue increased by 2% year-on-year to over US$2.6 billion while the firm generated US$2.1 billion of net cash from operating activities and declared a dividend of US$285 million.
At year end of 2019, Avolon had US$16.6 billion future contracted rental cashflows; and US$5.7 billion of total available liquidity including unrestricted cash, undrawn unsecured RCF and undrawn secured revolving debt.
In its results Avolon said that it had ddelivered, transitioned or sold a total of 170 aircraft in 2019, and also delivered a total of 54 new aircraft and sold a total of 92 aircraft in 2019, 5 of which were managed assets;, while fleet utilisation for the year stood at 98.9%.
In a statement the firm said that excluded unplaced MAX aircraft placement was 91% of orderbook to the end of 2021 and it has no twin aisle availability until 2022. The firm total owned, managed and committed fleet at year end was 925 aircraft; and it has an average owned age of 5years with an average remaining lease term of 7 years.
In a statement Avolon said the increased in unencumbered assets from US$8.7 billion to US$14.9 billion during the year, was a result reflecting a year-on-year reduction in Avolon’s secured debt to total assets from 42% to 28%;
The firm successfully raised a total of US$5.1 billion of debt including US$3.6 billion of senior unsecured notes, US$0.5 billion of unsecured term loan debt and US$1billion of revolving credit capacity in 2019, while also extending the maturity of its unsecured revolving credit facility by 21 months to April 2024.
Dómhnal Slattery, Avolon chief executive said that 2019 was another year of strong financial performance for the business but cautioned over the potential impact of the coronavirus.
“Looking ahead, the continued spread of the coronavirus creates an uncertain backdrop for our airline customers. However, in previous periods of dislocation air traffic has proven to be resilient. We have multi-cycle experience, a proven management team and a strong investment grade balance sheet. It is in an environment of uncertainty where this experience matters most.”