Ryanair reported a 7% fall in profit during the 2018 third quarter on Monday; for 2018, profit is projected to fall by 12%.
The April-September decline in revenue was linked to higher fuel costs and damage due to strike action.
Ryanair is Europe’s largest low-cost carrier that has never known a profit drop in all years of operation. However, continued strike action is denting is impeccable record with shareholders.
Ryanair shares closed on Friday at €11.51, down 20%, the Irish public news agency RTE reports.
Ryanair shares are 40% down from a peak of €19.39 in August 2017. Ryanair projects a full-year profit of between €1.1 billion and €1.2 billion. That is down from the record €1.45 billion post-tax profit booked March 2017.
In December 2017 Ryanair was forced to recognize unions and has faced strikes across Europe.
Ryanair CEP Michael O’ Leary warned that in the event of a hard Brexit UK shareholders will be treated as non-EU, which will result to a restriction of their voting rights and force them to sell shares exclusively to EU nationals.
