HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum is pleased to announce the second most profitable year for Emirates.
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00:00I'm pleased to announce that the Emirate Group was 27 years of profit, and we earned a record
00:18revenue of 96.5 billion dirhams, up by 10% from the previous year.
00:26The study revenue growth is in line with capacity increase at Emirates Airlines and also with
00:35Danata Investment, particularly in the travel service sector.
00:39As a group, we recorded our second highest profit ever at 5.5 billion dirhams.
00:48This is 34% more than the previous year, and it is a great result considering the challenges of the year.
00:57We achieved this result by staying focused on the revenue growth across our business.
01:04At the same time, our continued investment in new technology helped to keep costs low and increase efficiency.
01:13Based on our financial performance this year, the Emirates Group also will be issuing a dividend of 2.6 billion dirhams to our owners.
01:25Today, I think from the Emirates start, we paid 14 billion dirhams to our shareholders.
01:33Our cash balance of 20 billion dirhams is 5% more than the previous year.
01:42It is a healthy balance which put us in a good position to raise funds and invest in our future business growth.
01:51Our cash from operating activity was 14.3 billion dirhams, up by 4%.
02:00This shows the strength of our business and our ability to fund new business investment.
02:08As a group, we added 8,600 new employees last year, bringing our total working force to 84,000.
02:24This is an 11% increase in staff strength, and it is to meet the need of our expanding operation across both Emirates and Canada.
02:36Our 80 companies across the group are run by talented individuals from over 160 nationalities.
02:45Last year, we invested 20 billion dirhams across the group to build our business.
02:52This follows a record in the previous year where we had invested 22 billion dirhams into our business.
03:00Emirates and Canada compete on a global stage, and we know that we cannot be complacent.
03:08That's why we invest in modern aircraft and facilities, and why we invest to enhance our capability, improve our products, and develop our people.
03:20Emirates performance for Emirates revenue increased of 7% to 88.8 billion dirhams.
03:32This was a strong result considering the impact of the runway closure at our hub in Dubai and also a strong US dollar.
03:42Operating cost has increased by 6% to 82.9 billion dirhams.
03:49Lower fuel prices helped remove the Emirates fuel bill down by 7%.
03:55We have to pay in just fuel 28.7 billion dirhams. That's a big bill.
04:02However, fuel remains the biggest expense for the airline.
04:07Our profit increased by 40% to 4.6 billion dirhams.
04:14Despite a tough market and a stiff competition, this shows the strong consumer preference for Emirates products and services.
04:28It also shows that our investment in products and services and our people continue to deliver the top and bottom line benefits.
04:41Our profit margin was 5.1%. This is a 1.2% point improvement over the previous year.
04:52Every year, we add capacity that's equal to the entire fleet of some of the world's airlines.
05:01Last year, we had 24 new aircraft join our fleet and we retired 10 older aircraft.
05:10This kept our average fleet age at a youthful 75 months compared to the industry average of 140 months.
05:23Overall, our fleet capacity increased by 9% to cross the 50.8 billion mark for the first time.
05:35Last year, we flew 49.3 million people on our aircraft.
05:42The seat factor was 79.6%, which is slightly higher than the previous year.
05:52Over the past six years, we have maintained a seat load factor of around 80%, while our capacity has increased by 80%.
06:04This shows the global demand for our service and the strength of our brand in Emirates.
06:11The freight market was still sluggish last year. Recovery in many markets across the globe has been slow.
06:21However, Emirates SkyCargo delivered a strong performance with a revenue growing at 9% to 12.3 billion dollars.
06:322.4 million tons of cargo was carried, an increase of 6% over the previous year.
06:41SkyCargo contributed 15% to the airline revenue similar to the previous year.
06:49In 2014, we moved all freight operations to Al Maktoum International Airport at DWC.
06:59It was a major milestone for SkyCargo and it is positioning us for the future growth.
07:08Our new facility at DWC has the latest technology and can expand to 1 million tons per year.
07:17First, the drop in oil prices was a welcome relief on cost.
07:24We only felt the benefit in the second half of the year, but our net saving from the drop in oil prices was 2 billion dirhams.
07:34Fuel dropped from 39% operating cost in our previous financial year to 35% last year. However, it was still our biggest cost.
07:46The 80-day runway closure at Dubai International Airport impacted both Emirates and Danata.
07:52Emirates has to drop 19 aircraft and reduce capacity by 9%.
07:59Danata had many operations around the construction.
08:04At the same time, we also had to set up an operation, the first major ground handling infrastructure at Al Maktoum International,
08:13to support those airlines who had to move their operations during this time.
08:18As a group, the estimated impact on revenue was 1.7 billion dirhams.
08:24Last year, we saw the strong rise of the U.S. dollar against the currencies in many of our key markets.
08:32This had 1.5 billion dirhams impacted on the group bottom line.
08:38I think with the Europeans, this has started much more than five years.
08:45We've been hearing about it and they try to block us.
08:49We usually operate according to the bilateral we have.
08:53We try to improve on the bilateral by opening a city pair and connecting Dubai to more cities in Europe.
09:01I always say the noise coming from the airline who never thought that the air gulf carrier,
09:11especially talking about Emirates, that would be the size that they see today.
09:17They always think that they are the best, they are the biggest and nobody can overtake them.
09:25And I think here, we have changed that.
09:28And I think what you see in Dubai and this part of the world, it's not 30 years back.
09:36We have achieved many milestones when it comes to the development of the aviation sector, business, tourism, union.
09:50I think Anand is also doing this project, reaching to Mars.
10:00I think a lot of people would always have the doubt, but I think we are determined to do things that other people can't do.
10:08What we see in the U.S. delegation of the three airlines, I think that will not stop us from what we are doing.
10:21We believe we will be very transparent when it comes to talking about Emirates.
10:26And with our result, anybody would look at the number and know exactly where the money is coming from and where it is spent.
10:37To every detail, every penny.
10:40And I always say this, I said, if I'm giving my people bonus today, why should I do it if we are losing money?
10:50Because we are subsidized. Why should I cost the owner or the company?
10:56They should be very happy to have work at Emirates.
11:03I'm sure that the American government is looking into this, and I'm sure they would have a lot of fear.
11:12To have to think that many airlines, not just the American airlines, who really enjoy the open sky policy here.
11:22And how much talking about Emirates has helped those American airlines to grow their business in this part of the world.
11:33I'll be talking, for example, about the courier service.
11:36There is many of them, you know, I don't want really to talk about them.
11:41At least four of them work here, they do a lot of work with Emirates.
11:46And I don't think they would be able to expand and reach to the people they want to reach without Emirates.
11:53So I'm sure those guys out there are very much supportive.
11:56There is many business within the American company.
12:03I'm sure they would be fear and they would say that we want to keep that open sky policy going on.
12:09And we will demonstrate at the end of the day to them that we are clear and we don't want any subject.
12:16And it is based on a fair competition, and I think competition is what makes people.
12:22I said it before, I think for many airlines they have a need to improve their service.
12:28And they want people to fly with them.
12:33Well, maybe we are solo players.
12:37I think, I say this, we've been in new alliances for a long time.
12:44Maybe somebody will ask you, but you have to go and test.
12:48I think whatever suits us, and we see it's really a benefit to us and to the other, you know, we will do.
12:56But in terms of acquisition of buying any other airline, we have nothing in the pipeline as we speak now.
13:07So if something will happen, we literally know about it.