DUBLIN: Ryanair posted its weakest annual profit in four years on Monday and said earnings could fall further next year as Europe’s largest low-cost carrier grapples with overcapacity, Brexit and delays in delivery of the Boeing 737 Max.The airline posted a profit after tax for its financial year to March 31 — excluding startup losses at its Laudamotion unit — of $1.14 billion (€1.02 billion), down from €81.45 billion in the previous year.The company had forecast a profit of between €1 billion and €1.1 billion, and a company poll of over 10 analysts published ahead of the release had forecast €1.03 billion.Profit for the year to March 31, 2020 including Lauda could be between €750 million and €950 million, it said. Profit including Lauda’s exceptional losses this year was €880 million.Ryanair said its fares for six months to the end of September were lower than last year and expected the trend to continue, although it said it had no visibility for the second half of its financial year.Several rivals in recent weeks have warned of a worse trading environment — partly due to overcapacity and partly because European travelers are holding off booking their summer holidays for fear of how the Brexit process will pan out.Ryanair’s shares closed on Friday at €10.81, down over 40 percent from a peak of €19.39 18 months ago, before the airline was hit by a wave of industrial unrest, weakness in European short-haul fares and the grounding of the Max.Ryanair had cut its profit forecast for the year to March 2019 by around a fifth in two profit warnings between October and January, blaming strikes, higher oil prices and overcapacity in Europe.
