Leisure travel group Allegiant Travel Co. (ALGT) reported Monday a 42% year-over-year drop in profit for the fourth quarter, hurt by a decline in operating margins and a 24.5% increase in operating expenses, despite 10% revenue growth. Earnings per share for the quarter dropped 41%, but topped analysts' expectations by four cents.
In a statement, chairman and chief executive officer, Maurice Gallagher, Jr. said, Given the difficult economic environment of the past year we are proud of our performance. We accomplished these excellent results while growing significantly (a 22% increase in departures versus the prior year) and despite a 17% decline in scheduled air fare (what I call our "selling fare") to $70 from $85. However, during these difficult times, our 2009 total ancillary revenue per scheduled passenger grew 12% to approximately $33."
The Las Vegas, Nevada-based parent company of Allegiant Air and Allegiant Vacations reported net income of $10.54 million or $0.52 per share for the fourth quarter that dropped from $18.20 million or $0.88 per share in the year-ago quarter.
On average, nine analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected the company to post earnings of $0.48 per share for the fourth quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Total operating revenue for the quarter rose 10% to $134.73 million from $122.43 million in the same quarter last year, and topped five Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate of $129.92 million.
Operating income for the fourth quarter dropped 37.1% to $18.05 million from $28.69 million in the prior-year quarter, while operating margin plunged 10.0 percentage points to 13.4% from last year's 23.4%.
Total operating expenses was $116.68 million, up 24.5% from $93.74 million in the year-ago quarter.
For the fourth quarter, Allegiant's total system traffic was up 24.2% at 1.12 billion revenue passenger miles, or RPMs from 905.58 million RPMs in the year-ago quarter. Capacity rose 23.9% to 1.30 billion available seat miles, or ASMs from 1.05 billion ASMs in the prior-year quarter. Total system load factor edged down 0.2 percentage points at 86.7% from last year's 86.5%.
Scheduled Service traffic for the quarter rose 25.4% to 1.05 billion RPMs from 839.60 million RPMs in the year-ago quarter. Capacity rose 24.7% to 1.17 billion ASMs from from 935.66 million ASMs in the prior-year quarter. Load factor edged up 0.5 percentage points at 90.2% from last year's 89.7%.
For fiscal 2009, the company reported net income of $76.33 million or $3.76 per share, sharply higher than $35.41 million or $1.73 per share in the year-ago period. Analysts expected the company to report earnings of $3.71 per share for the full-year 2009.
Total operating revenue for the full-year rose 10.7% to $557.94 million from $504.01 million in the same period last year. The Street was looking for full-year revenues of $553.76 million.
"Looking forward, we currently see an improving pricing environment. While the economy is in the early stages of a recovery, our segment appears to be returning to revenue norms of past years. Our recently announced contract for additional aircraft should add 13 aircraft to our operating fleet and support our growth through 2011," Gallagher added.
Allegiant Air also provided guidance for first quarter of fiscal 2010, including year-over-year total system departure growth of about 7% and ASM growth of about 15%. First quarter maintenance expenditure is anticipated to be in the range of $95,000 to $105,000 per aircraft per month.
Capital expenditures for the fiscal 2010 is expected to be $80 million.
ALGT closed Monday's regular trading session at $50.99, up $0.59 or 1.17% on a volume of 0.37 million shares.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.