2019 Annual Report and Accounts (Which Control Over the Financial Reporting of the Group
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resilient focused data driven ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2019 Who we are easyJet makes travel easy, enjoyable and affordable for customers, whether it is for leisure or business. We use our cost advantage and leading positions in primary airports to deliver low fares and operational efficiency, seamlessly connecting Europe with the warmest welcome in the sky. Our well-established business model provides a strong foundation to drive profitable growth and long-term shareholder returns. We are proud to have been awarded Best Low-Cost Airline in Europe at the Skytrax World Airlines Awards 2019. ‘Our Promise’ is that we will be: SAFE AND ON OUR IN IT ALWAYS FORWARD RESPONSIBLE CUSTOMERS’ TOGETHER EFFICIENT THINKING SIDE PAGE CONTENTS our value STRATEGIC REPORT 2 At a glance creation 3 Chairman’s letter 10 Highlights framework 12 Business model 14 Market review The foundation 15 Stakeholder engagement for who we are 2 16 Chief Executive’s review and what we do and Our Strategy 26 Key performance indicators 28 Financial review 35 Viability statement 36 Summary statistics 37 Risk PAGE 48 Sustainability our performance CORPORATE GOVERNANCE 66 Chairman’s statement Key highlights on corporate governance of the year’s 68 Board of Directors performance 10 72 Airline Management Board 75 Corporate governance report 96 Directors’ remuneration report 116 Directors’ report 120 Statement of Directors’ responsibilities PAGE ACCOUNTS our pLAN 121 Independent auditors’ report to the members of easyJet plc The strategic plan which 128 Consolidated accounts we announced last year 133 Notes to the accounts is now fully embedded 174 Company accounts across easyJet 176 Notes to the Company accounts 16 179 Five-year summary 180 Glossary 181 Shareholder information our commitment PAGE Sustainability is a key part of Our Promise 48 VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR MORE INVESTOR INFORMATION corporate.easyJet.com/investors www.easyJet.com 1 AT A GLANCE our value creation framework easyJet’s value creation framework is the foundation for who we are and what we do. This provides context for how our wider purpose drives our business model and strategic plan, both of which are underpinned by our responsible and sustainable way of doing business and our core values. OUR PURPOSE SEAMLESSLY CONNECTING EUROPE WITH THE WARMEST Our purpose defines who we are and guides our WELCOME IN THE SKY actions and decisions. easyJet makes travel easy, enjoyable and affordable, whether it is for leisure or business DETAILS CAN BE FOUND ON PAGE 12 OUR BUSINESS PURPOSE-DRIVEN, MODEL Our well-established business VALUE CREATION BUSINESS MODEL model provides a strong foundation for delivering DETAILS CAN BE FOUND ON PAGE 12 long-term value to all of our stakeholders. OUR STRATEGY OUR PLAN Our strategic priorities are a plan of action designed to Number one move us closer to fulfilling or number Winning our Value by The right Innovating our purpose. two in customers’ efficiency people with data primary loyalty airports DETAILS CAN BE FOUND ON PAGE 19 OUR SUSTAINABILITY OUR SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY FRAMEWORK Our sustainable growth is Safety is our number one priority A responsible and responsive employer supported by a responsible way of doing business. Honest and fair with our A guardian for future generations customers and suppliers A good citizen DETAILS CAN BE FOUND ON PAGE 48 OUR PROMISE We have a set of values On our Safe and Always Forward which support and customers’ In it together responsible efficient thinking guide Our Strategy. side DETAILS CAN BE FOUND ON PAGE 15 2 easyJet plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 CHAIRMAN’S LETTER focused on STRATEGIC REPORT delivering long-term value CHAIRMAN’S LETTER 2019 has been a challenging year for easyJet with a tough start in to the Board on 1 January 2019. Both bring different perspectives the first half. This was followed by success from our self-help on technology and data and in-depth knowledge of a range of initiatives over the summer, with decisive management actions businesses. Adèle Anderson stepped down from the board on ensuring a record summer profit performance. The strength of our 7 February 2019 and I would like to reiterate my thanks to Adèle offering has ensured that customer demand has remained strong for her important contribution. Further details of these changes in spite of uncertain times for consumer confidence and continued are included in the Governance report on page 66. disruption at airports. In 2019 the Group increased the number of passengers flown by 8.6% to 96.1 million passengers OUR PEOPLE (2018: 88.5 million). Our strong business model and robust balance I would like to extend my thanks to all of easyJet’s employees, sheet mean we are well positioned to succeed in the years ahead. but especially to the wonderful crew, who continue to provide the warmest welcome in the sky. The inclusive culture and people at RESULTS easyJet are vital to our success. easyJet has faced a challenging year, with consumer confidence There have been a number of changes to the Airline Management having been impacted by the ongoing uncertainty around the UK’s Board over the course of the year which are detailed in the exit from the EU. This uncertain demand environment and the Governance report on page 72. annualisation of some one-off benefits we experienced last year were the main factors behind the significant reduction in our Details of how we engage with our stakeholders can be found profits this year. However, the measures we have taken to on page 15. increase late yields and manage costs have enabled us to meet revised stock market expectations and to stabilise and reposition SUSTAINABILITY our business for this new environment. A discussion of the current In the past year we have seen increased debate about climate dynamics influencing our industry can be found in the Market change. As an airline this is our most significant sustainability Review on page 14. impact and challenge. This is why we announced in November 2019 that we would become the world’s first major airline to Revenue for the full year increased by 8.3% to £6,385 million operate net-zero carbon flights across its whole network. We are (2018: £5,898 million). Despite a difficult disruption environment, doing this by offsetting the carbon emissions from the fuel used our Operational Resilience programme ensured that costs for all of our flights. remained under control. We recognise that this is an interim measure, but at the moment This resulted in headline profit before tax of £427 million we believe it’s the best way we have to remove carbon from the (2018: £578 million) and basic headline earnings per share of atmosphere. At the same time, we will continue to support the 88.7 pence (2018: 118.3 pence). Total profit before tax of development of new technologies to decarbonise aviation for the £430 million (2018: £445 million) and non-headline items of longer-term, on top of all the other initiatives we are taking to a £3 million gain (2018: £133 million cost) led to basic total reduce carbon. earnings per share of 88.6 pence (2018: 90.9 pence). THE FUTURE DIVIDENDS As ever there will be challenges to face during the coming year. easyJet’s dividend policy is to pay shareholders 50% of We continue to believe that easyJet’s well-established business headline earnings after tax, reflecting the Board’s confidence model and solid financials provide a strong foundation to weather in the long-term prospects of the business. I am pleased to these challenges, and to drive profitable growth and long-term recommend to shareholders a dividend of 43.9 pence per shareholder returns. share for the 2019 financial year (2018: 58.6 pence per share). HOLIDAYS Last year easyJet identified a significant opportunity to develop a financially meaningful holidays business, to better serve the easyJet generation. Around 20 million customers per year fly with JOHN BARTON easyJet to Europe’s largest leisure destinations, but only 0.5 million Non-Executive Chairman book accommodation with us. We will launch in the UK before Christmas, selling holidays for winter 2019 and summer 2020. OUR BOARD easyJet’s Board has been further strengthened this year by the appointment of two new Independent Non-Executive Directors. Dr Anastassia Lauterbach and Nick Leeder were both appointed www.easyJet.com 3 resilient As we were planning for summer 2019, we faced increasing airport and airspace congestion, with Eurocontrol predicting 15% more air traffic delays year on year. The skies are busier than ever, and our own fleet capacity is growing, so we took action to evolve the way we planned for and managed disruption on the day, and recover faster when disruptive events occur. This involved a co-ordinated, airline-wide effort to identify improvements across the business, including: • Re-designing our flying schedules and rosters, making over 50,000 updates to the schedule to help us avoid disruption where possible and to be better positioned to manage where we cannot • Increasing investment in standby aircraft • Optimising our maintenance planning • Communicating with and supporting our customers during disruption • Using data and analytics to make the best network-wide decisions 25% % FEWER DISRUPTION EVENTS 24 WITHIN OUR CONTROL FEWER 73% CUSTOMERS DELAYED >3 REDUCTION IN HOURS TIME TO PAY CLAIMS 4 easyJet plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 99.4% 46% FLIGHT FEWER COMPLETION RATE CANCELLATIONS www.easyJet.com 5 focused Our growth is targeted in the areas where we see long term returns, within our core business as a low-cost European point-to-point airline. • Our network strategy of focusing our capacity on slot-constrained primary airports is improving resilience through the cycle and driving revenue per seat and profitability, as we take market share from legacy carriers.