Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary says that the airline will look at dividends after it has hit its target of getting net debt to zero by April next year. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PARyanair shareholders will have to wait until at least next year before the airline restarts returning cash to them. Chief executive Michael O’Leary told analysts that the Irish group would use its resources to pay off debt, it has €1.
Once it hits its target of cutting its €960 million net debt to zero by April next year, then O’Leary says it will look to restoring payments to shareholders. But investors are also likely to see a different approach to rewarding them, particularly over the longer term. Previously the airline has made returns to investors through special dividends and share buy backs.
O’Leary said on Monday that he does not “see us doing large share buy backs in the future”. Instead the airline seems set to favour modest, steady dividend payments. This reflects its chief executive’s view of the company’s likely growth. He believes that the 10 per cent-plus rates of expansion that it now enjoys will slow to around 6 or 7 per cent annually by around 2026/27.