Qantas Airways announced its first dividend since 2009 and handed bonuses to 25,000 workers as chief executive Alan Joyce's turnaround program delivered a record annual profit.
Australia’s biggest carrier will pay a final dividend of seven Australian cents a share and buy back as much as A$366 million(€248 million) of stock, according to a filing on Wednesday.
Earnings before tax and one-time items surged 57 per cent to A$1.53 billion in the 12 months ended June 30th.
Dublin-born Mr Joyce, who has cut thousands of jobs, deferred aircraft orders and dropped unprofitable routes as part of a A$2 billion transformation programme, said the three-year plan was on course to exceed its target. The regular dividend has returned earlier than some analysts had expected.
"Qantas is in a really sweet spot,'' said Angus Nicholson, a market analyst at IG Ltd. "A regular dividend in this global environment is going to be a real positive. It shows you how consistently the company can hold these gains going forward.''
Shares rise
The airline’s shares rose 4.1 per cent to A$3.54 in early trading. Qantas stock has almost tripled since Mr Joyce announced his turnaround programme on February 27th, 2014.
Before today, Sydney-based Qantas had made two one-off capital returns totalling more than A$1 billion in the past year.
Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways have already restarted paying dividends after the global financial crisis. – (Bloomberg)