In the first quarter of 2011 FLY Leasing operating lease revenue was $47.6 million, and net income was $2.8 million or $0.10 per share. At quarter end, all 60 aircraft were contracted for lease to 34 lessees in 23 countries. During the quarter FLY acquired a new Boeing 737-800 under a sale and leaseback transaction with an airline and purchased a 57% equity interest in a new joint venture that owns four Boeing 767 aircraft on lease to two airlines in North America. The net equity investment in the joint venture is $5.9 million.
During the quarter FLY repurchased an additional 1.1 million shares at an average price of $11.94 per share. FLY has now repurchased a total of 8.0 million of its shares at an average price of $7.89 per share, representing 24% of its IPO shares. FLY’s 14th consecutive quarterly dividend, representing 19% of Available Cash Flow in the quarter, will be paid on May 20th to shareholders of record on April 29th. Colm Barrington said: “With all our aircraft currently leased and generating rentals, along with $139.8 million of unrestricted cash, we remain well-positioned to grow our portfolio of aircraft.”
FLY’s net income and basic and diluted earnings per share for the first quarter of 2011 was $2.8 million and $0.10 per share compared to $16.7 million and $0.55 per share for the same period of the preceding year. The decrease in net income is primarily due to a decline in revenue. Total revenue for the first quarter of 2011 was $49.7 million compared to $67.7 million in the same period in the previous year. The decrease in total revenues was primarily attributable to a $12.5 million pre-tax gain on the sale of an option to purchase notes payable in 2010 and a $6.6 million decrease in operating lease revenue in the first quarter of 2011, partially offset by $1.2 million of equity earnings from unconsolidated joint ventures. The decrease in operating lease revenue from $54.2 million in 2010 to $47.6 million in 2011 was primarily attributable to $3.6 million of end of lease revenues on aircraft whose leases expired in 2010 and $2.9 million in operating lease revenue from the four aircraft that were sold during 2010, partially offset by $1.6 million in revenue from two new Boeing 737-800 aircraft purchased in late 2010 and early 2011. Total expenses in the first quarter of 2011 were $46.2 million compared to $47.1 million in the first quarter of 2010.
Available Cash Flow (ACF), which FLY defines as net income plus depreciation, lease incentive amortization, amortization of debt issue costs, non-cash equity based compensation, the deferred tax provision and other one-time, non-cash items, was $28.3 million for the first quarter of 2011 compared to $45.0 million for the same period in the previous year. The decrease is primarily due to the decline in net income caused by the 2010 gain associated with the sale of the debt purchase option. ACF per share was $1.07 for the first quarter of 2011 compared to $1.49 in the same period of 2010.
At March 31, 2011, FLY’s total assets were $2.0 billion, including flight equipment with a net book value of $1.6 billion. Restricted and unrestricted cash at March 31, 2011 totaled $306.5 million, of which $139.8 million was unrestricted. These amounts compare to total cash of $329.0 million and unrestricted cash of $164.1 million at December 31, 2010.