WestJet has announced record adjusted full-year net earnings of $317.2 million, or $2.46 per diluted share. This compares with the net earnings of $268.7 million, or $2.03 per diluted share reported in the full-year 2013, up 18% and 21%, respectively. For the fourth quarter, the airline reported record diluted earnings per share of $0.70, up 35% from $0.52 reported last year. These fourth quarter 2014 results include pre-tax incentive payments of $9.8 million associated with WestJet's new pilot agreement reached in December 2014 and a pre-tax non-cash loss of $2.5 million related to the previously disclosed sale of 10 of its oldest Boeing 737 aircraft.
This represents WestJet's 39th consecutive quarter of profitability and based on the trailing twelve months, the airline achieved a return on invested capital of 14.3%, compared with the 13.8% reported in the previous quarter, representing the 10th consecutive quarter in which WestJet exceeded its 12% target.
Even though WestJet expects its fuel costs to fall by as much as 30% in the first quarter, WestJet CEO Gregg Saretsky has stated that this will not lead to lower fares: “We price according to supply and demand,” he said.
WestJet January 2015 traffic results boast a load factor of 79.5%, with revenue passenger miles (RPMs) up by 3.6% year over year, and capacity in available seat miles (ASMs) up by 5.5% over the same period.
In the month of January, WestJet achieved an on-time performance rate of 73.0 per cent, an improvement of 14.6 percentage points. The airline flew a record 1.6 million guests in January, a year-over-year increase of 2.0 per cent or approximately 32,000 additional guests.
On February 2, 2015, WestJet's Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $0.14 per common voting share and variable voting share for the first quarter of 2015, to be paid on March 31, 2015, to shareholders of record on March 18, 2015. "This marks the fifth dividend increase since we first introduced our quarterly dividend in 2010 and demonstrates both our confidence in WestJet's investment grade business model and our commitment to returning value to shareholders," said Saretsky.