Ryanair starts €550m share buyback programme

Irish airline Ryanair said on Tuesday that it has commenced its €550 million share buyback programme.

The airline announced the buyback at the publication of its half-year results on Monday, which revealed a 7 per cent increase in profit to €1.17 billion in the six months to September 30th.

Ryanair will buy back up to €550 million of shares over the four months to February 28th, 2017. It will split this equally between the American depositary receipts held by US stockholders and ordinary shares to comply with rules capping non-EU ownership of European airlines at less than 50 per cent.

The purpose of the buyback programme is to reduce the share capital of the company, and so all shares repurchased will be cancelled.