John Gil
Master in International Finance Carol Reis
Beneficiary: Dr. Joan Tarradellas Aly Genena
Rohan Buddineni
Josef Osterhammer
Valuation Report: Ryanair March, 2018
Table of Contents
1 DISCLAIMER 3
2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4
3 INTRODUCTION 5
4 SOURCES OF INFORMATION 5
8 COMPANY VALUATION 20
8.1 FUNDAMENTAL VALUATION 20
8.1.1 FORECASTED FREE CASH FLOWS TO THE FIRM 20
8.1.2 TERMINAL VALUE 20
8.1.3 WEIGHTED AVERAGE COST OF CAPITAL (WACC) 20
8.1.4 FINAL VIEW ON ENTERPRISE AND EQUITY VALUE 20
8.2 MULTIPLE VALUATIONS 20
8.2.1 TRADING MULTIPLES 20
8.2.2 TRANSACTION MULTIPLES 20
9 CONCLUSION 20
10 APPENDICES 20
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Valuation Report: Ryanair March, 2018
1 Disclaimer
The information and material presented in the attached report (the "Report") are
provided to you for informational purposes only and are not to be used or consid-
ered as an offer or a solicitation to sell or an offer or solicitation to buy or subscribe
for securities or other financial instruments or any advice or recommendation with
respect to such securities or other financial instruments. Neither 17MSTPA02
Group 3 Corporate Finance Advisors ("Group 3") nor any of its affiliates makes
any representation or warranty or guarantee as to the completeness, accuracy,
timeliness or suitability of any information contained within any part of the Report
nor that it is free from error.
Any investments presented in this report may be unsuitable for the investor de-
pending on his or her specific investment objectives and financial position. Any
reports provided herein are provided for general information purposes only and
cannot substitute the obtaining of independent financial advice. Private investors
should obtain the advice of their banker/broker about any investments concerned
prior to making them. Nothing in this publication is intended to create contractual
obligations.
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Valuation Report: Ryanair March, 2018
2 Executive Summary
Ryanair Holdings plc (hereafter “Ryanair”) operates an ultra low fare scheduled
passenger airline serving short haul, point-to-point routes between the UK, Ireland,
and Continental Europe, as well as Morocco. It is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.
In an industry that is highly competitive on price, Ryanair has consistently
achieved sound revenue growth and continuously superior profitability and liquidity
situation compared to a group of identified peers. With reported revenues of EUR
6,647.8mn for the fiscal year ended March 2017 the company continues to lever-
age on its industry leading low cost base, resulting in a leading position (market
share: 14%) in the European market for low cost air travel.
Ryanair has always been heavily focused on minimizing costs in order to maintain
a significant fare discount relative to its competitors. In a market, which appears to
continue to commoditize, we firmly believe that the lowest cost producer will win in
the long run. We note that the selection of airport bases and destination airports
has, to a considerable extent, been driven by cost considerations. While factors
such as demographics, economic growth, discretionary income, tourism and po-
tential for business traffic are taken into account, the cost base and aircraft turna-
round time remain the most important selection criteria. Quick turnaround times,
typically around 25 minutes, are crucial in order to maintain high productivity and
utilization rates.
example
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Valuation Report: Ryanair March, 2018
3 Introduction
The aim of this report is to determine a fair value of Ryanair Holdings plc in ac-
cordance to our mandate. The report will reveal whether the company’s stock is
currently over- or undervalued. Furthermore it will provide extensive overview
Ryanair’s operations and management as well as a detailed outline of its respec-
tive industry and its drivers. Finally, comprehensive and holistic financial analysis
of the firm’s financial statements and historic financial performance will be em-
ployed in an effort to provide objective forecasts of future cash flows of Ryanair.
The main valuation method chosen is based on a discounted cash flow model
(DCF). Market valuation, i.e. Multiples, will only assist as a justifying element of the
valuation, to confirm and validate findings of the DCF. Given the fact that global air
travel projected to grow in the foreseeable future, we deem appropriate to consider
a two stage terminal value (TV), with an (i) initial growth rate in line with growth of
air travel concluded by (ii) a terminal assuming return on invested capital (ROIC)
to equal the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) over time.
This valuation report is brought to the reader in a way that does not require in-
depth knowledge of financial theory and is written in a self explanatory way. When
appropriate, findings will be illustrated in visual form and formulas will be exhibited.
For reasons of completeness, data underlying the financial analysis as well as the
financial models employed will be exhibited in the appendices to this report.
4 Sources of Information
The sources of information underlying this valuation report comprise:
(i) Public company information as found in the Ryanair’s annual and quarterly
reports as well as respective earnings call presentations and the company’s
website
(ii) Information retrieved from market intelligence platforms such as S&P Capi-
tal IQ, Thomson Reuters Eikon, Market Line and The World Bank
(iii) Supplemental data used in common valuation practice is provided by 2016
Valuation Handbook – Guide to Cost of Capital (Duff & Phelps), NYU Stern
Aswath Damodaran Online Database and Mergermarket.
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Valuation Report: Ryanair March, 2018
Ryanair Holdings plc (Ryanair or 'the company') is a holding company for Ryanair
Limited, which is a lowfare scheduled passenger airline company. The company
booked approximately 120 million passengers in FY2017. The company offered
over 2,000 scheduled short-haul flights per day serving approximately 200 airports
largely throughout Europe. Ryanair primarily operates in the UK, Ireland, and other
European countries and offers flights to North African destinations.
The company is managed as a single business unit that provides low fares airline-
related services, including scheduled services, and ancillary services including
hotel, travel insurance and internet and other related services to third parties.
As on January 31, 2018, Ryanair's principal fleet comprised 400 Boeing 737-800
aircraft. In FY2017, the company reported an average booked passenger load fac-
tor of approximately 94%, which increased by 6% over the past four years. Rya-
nair's recorded revenue passenger miles (RPM) are of 92,383 million in FY2017,
i.e. up 14% compared to FY2016, and available seat miles (ASM) are up 12%
from 87,451 million during FY2016 to 97,909 in FY2017.
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Valuation Report: Ryanair March, 2018
The company also provides various ancillary services and engages in other activi-
ties connected with its core air passenger service. These include non-flight sched-
uled services, in-flight sale of beverages, food, and merchandise, and internet-
related services. As part of its non-flight scheduled and internet-related services,
the company distributes accommodation services and travel insurance through
both its website and its telephone reservation offices. Ancillary revenues will be
looked at more closely in the financial analysis.
Ryanair also sells bus and some rail tickets Geographical Segments
onboard its aircraft and through its website. The
28,2%
company markets car parking, attractions and ac- UK
tivities on its website. Geographically, the compa- 61,5%
ny classifies its operations into three segments, Other
namely The UK, Ireland, and Other European Europe
10,3%
countries. In FY2017, the UK accounted for 28.2% Ireland
of the company's total revenues, followed by Ire-
land with 10.3%; and Other Europe with 61.5%.
A major part of air travelling occures during holiday seasons, which is why the
industry experiences seasonality. Ryanair manages this effect by lowering the
utilization of its fleet during winter months. During this time, approximately 20% of
its fleet will stay grounded.
5.2 Shareholders
Shares of Ryanair Holdings plc are traded on the stock exchanges of London
(LSE), the stock exchange of Dublin in Ireland (ISE) and the NASDAQ stock ex-
change in New York. Approximately 45% of all shares outstanding are owned by
institutional investors, of which the top 10 assume ownership of close to 25%.
HSBC Global
Fidelity International
5.54% O'Leary (Michael Kevin)
c. 25,2% Jupiter Asset Management
1.61%
owned by Top Baillie Gifford & Co.
2.20% 10 Alken Asset Management
shareholders 5.34% Allianz Global Investors
2.46% Janus Henderson Investors
Norges Bank
3.91%
Columbia Threadneedle Investments
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Valuation Report: Ryanair March, 2018
5.3 SWOT-Analysis
Strengths
Cost Control - Rigorous cost control has been at the heart of Ryanair’s
business model, which helps maintain profitability in times of numerous dis-
ruptors and external impacts.
Weaknesses
Employment Issues - The recent clash with its pilots over employment
terms could lead to major operational issues due to a shortage of staff, but
also impact its cost base.
Low Cost Long Haul - The emergence of low-cost long haul players such
as Norwegian Air Shuttle is expected to steal market share from Ryanair,
especially as it is growing its exposure in Asia Pacific and North America.
Opportunities
Middle East - Expanding away from Europe could help the airline tap into
new markets, in turn bringing more revenues. Already in Israel, the airline
could also consider destinations such as Egypt or Lebanon.
Threats
Cyber Security Risks - Cyber security could be very damaging for the
company, which plans to increase the digitalization of its internal structures
and drive full customer personalization through its website.
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Valuation Report: Ryanair March, 2018
Winners
The airline introduced several new initia-
tives in 2017 in line with its strategy. Spe- sonalization
cifically, the carrier began the sale of tick-
Improved customer pro-
ets of another operator, the Spanish air-
filing
line Air Europa. It also introduced Apple
Pay in six of its markets, and improved its Expansion in Eastern
Ryanair Rooms website, according to Europe
corporate sources.
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Valuation Report: Ryanair March, 2018
14%
Ryanair Sales Performance vs. Global Airline Industry 2013-2017
12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
0%
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
One of the major operating inputs of an aircraft is jet fuel (kerosene). For that rea-
son, profitability of airline carriers will be adversely affected by a rise in oil prices.
Thus we have identified a significant negative correlation between price develop-
ment of crude oil and prices of equities of airline service providers.
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Valuation Report: Ryanair March, 2018
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Valuation Report: Ryanair March, 2018
Network carriers generally operate hub and spoke networks, which rely heavily on
connecting (transfer) traffic. The short haul routes are used to feed the lucrative
long-haul network and vice versa, but also target the point-to-point market as the
short haul routes cannot survive on connecting traffic alone. The fact that network
airlines are usually capacity constrained at their hubs (British Airways at London
Heathrow, Air France/KLM at Paris CDG and Amsterdam Schiphol, Lufthansa at
Frankfurt), limits the growth of their short-haul networks. The fact that feeder flights
need to be coordinated with long-haul departure and arrival times creates further
restrictions at busy airports.
There are no such constraints on the LCCs, which solely operate point-to-point
networks and tend not to have code-sharing or interlining agreements with other
airlines. Routes are launched if the point-to-point market is deemed to be large
and prosperous enough to fill the aircraft at acceptable yields.
While network carriers could launch point-to-point flights from non-hub airports,
their unit cost puts them at a disadvantage relative to low cost carriers. Some of
the network carriers have shifted capacity on non-feeder routes to their low cost
airlines subsidiaries. Examples include IAG-owned low cost subsidiary Vueling
taking over British Airways and Iberia routes, Eurowings/Germanwings taking over
Lufthansa routes and Transavia taking over Air France/KLM routes. We expect
this trend to continue, although stiff union opposition may impact the speed and
scale of this capacity shift.
Strategic selection of airports supports Ryanair’s cost advantage
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Valuation Report: Ryanair March, 2018
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Valuation Report: Ryanair March, 2018
Wizz Air Holdings Plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides passenger air
transportation services on scheduled short-haul and medium-haul point-to-point
routes across Europe and the Middle East. It operates a fleet of 87 Airbus A320
and Airbus A321 aircraft that offer services for approximately 550 routes from 28
bases connecting 144 destinations across 43 countries. Wizz Air Holdings Plc was
founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
BREXIT: Ryanair may face a number of regulatory challenges, and could require
special efforts to continue to comply with EU regulation that requires air carriers
registered in EU member states to be majority-owned and effectively controlled by
EU nationals. If UK shareholders are no longer designated as EU nationals, Rya-
nair may need to take action and manage its shareholder base to ensure ongoing
compliance.
Oil prices have an inverse correlation with the profitability of airline opera-
tors, since kerosene accounts for a major part of the operating cost of air-
craft. Current upward momentum in oil price thus squeezes profits of LLCs.
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Valuation Report: Ryanair March, 2018
23% 24%
22%
18%
Through its industry-leading cost base, the company is able to achieve superior
margins with respect to the industry. Over its closest competitor easyjet plc, Rya-
nair has a 44% cost advantage.
Unit seat cost breakdown 2017
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Valuation Report: Ryanair March, 2018
However, Ryanair achieves lower revenue per seat, which sets off part of the cost
advantage. This is mainly due to the very aggressive ultra low-fare pricing model,
which positions Ryanair as the cheapest way to travel on many of its routes.
Grounded: 100
305 308
297
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Valuation Report: Ryanair March, 2018
expenditures. Over the past five years, Ryanair Holdings plc shares have in-
creased by an average compound annual growth rate of 24%, demonstrating the
company’s ability to return value to its shareholders.
9.4%
7.8% 8.3%
6.2% Industry ROA: 6,7%
7.3 Liquidity
Besides their focus on achieving an industry leading cost base, Ryanair’s closely
monitors and rigorously manages its working capital. This in turn provides the
company with yet another competitive advantage, namely an industry leading cash
conversion cycle of negative 18.7 days, meaning the firm can defer payments
longer than it takes to translate inventories into receivables and collect them. As a
result, the negative cash cycle serves as a source of internal short term funding,
further lowering the cost of external debt financing.
(11.8)
(14.2)
(16.2)
(18.7)
Avg. Cash Conversion Cycle
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Valuation Report: Ryanair March, 2018
The favorable liquidity situation is further confirmed by above industry Current Ra-
tio, Quick Ratio and Cash from Operations to Current Liabilities Ratio.
A closer analysis of the liquidity
1.7x 1.6x
metrics suggests that Ryanair 1.6x
1.5x 1.4x
1.4x 1.4x
could cover all current obligations 1.3x
Disposal of
if they came due immediately. investment 0.9x
0.6x
Further, solid liquidity fosters 0.5x 0.5x
7.4 Solvency
With Net Debt close to zero, the company exhibits excellent solvency metrics and
has gradually delevered over the Solvency Ratios: Gradual Delevering
recent past. Though, we want to
1.00x 0.99x
highlight that the company’s finan-
0.89x
cial leverage is considerably above 52.3% 52.8%
0.77x
industry average. This could also 49.8%
47.6% 46.9%
be due to the fact that competitors 45.9%
44.6%
do cannot replicate Ryanair’s credit 41.6%
worthiness and banks’ overall will- 2015 2016 2017 Dec-2017
(LTM)
ingness to lend to airline operates
Total Debt/Capital LT Debt/Capital LT Debt/Equity
is considered rather low.
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Valuation Report: Ryanair March, 2018
Maturity Profile
EURmn 65
Capital Lease Bonds and Notes Term Loans Bonds and Notes Other Borrowings
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Valuation Report: Ryanair March, 2018
8 Company Valuation
8.1 Fundamental Valuation
8.1.1 Forecasted Free Cash Flows to the Firm
9 Conclusion
10 Appendices
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