American Airlines Group Inc. today reported its fourth quarter and full year 2016 results. The Company’s earnings highlights include:
• Fourth quarter 2016 pre-tax profit of $500 million, or $773 million excluding net special charges, and net profit of $289 million, or $475 million excluding net special charges
• Full year 2016 pre-tax profit of $4.3 billion, or $5.1 billion excluding net special charges, and net profit of $2.7 billion, or $3.2 billion excluding net special charges
• Fourth quarter Total Revenue per Available Seat Mile (TRASM) was up 1.3 percent year-over-year, marking the first year-over-year increase since the fourth quarter 2014
• The Company accrued approximately $57 million in the fourth quarter for its profit sharing plan, bringing the total accrual to $314 million for 2016
• Returned $606 million to stockholders through share repurchases and dividends in the fourth quarter, for a total of $4.6 billion in 2016. Announced a new $2.0 billion share repurchase authorization
The Company reported a Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) net profit of $289 million, or $0.56 per diluted share in the fourth quarter 2016. The Company’s fourth quarter 2016 results include a $211 million provision for income taxes, of which $207 million is non-cash due to net operating loss utilization. This compares to a GAAP net profit of $3.3 billion in the fourth quarter 2015, or $5.09 per diluted share, which included a non-cash $3.0 billion net special income tax benefit resulting from the reversal of the Company’s valuation allowance.
The Company reported a full year 2016 GAAP net profit of $2.7 billion, or $4.81 per diluted share, including a non-cash income tax provision of $1.6 billion. This compares to a GAAP net profit of $7.6 billion in 2015, or $11.07 per diluted share, which included the $3.0 billion non-cash income tax benefit.
The impact of the year-over-year change in non-cash income tax expense is removed by comparing pre-tax income. The Company reported a fourth quarter 2016 GAAP pre-tax income of $500 million, and pre-tax income excluding net special charges of $773 million. This compares to a fourth quarter 2015 GAAP pre-tax income of $244 million, and pre-tax income excluding net special charges of $1.3 billion. For the full year, the Company reported a 2016 GAAP pre-tax income of $4.3 billion, and pre-tax income excluding net special charges of $5.1 billion, which compares to a 2015 GAAP pre-tax income of $4.6 billion, and pre-tax income excluding net special charges of $6.3 billion.
Adjusted1 fourth quarter 2016 earnings per diluted share was $1.48, down from $2.00 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2015. Full year 2016 adjusted1 earnings per diluted share was $9.10, down $0.02 compared to 2015.
“The American Airlines team continued to produce outstanding results in 2016, and outsiders are taking notice. Air Transport World named American as its 2017 Airline of the Year, citing our team’s integration work, operational and customer service improvements, and the significant investments we are making in our product. This recognition is entirely due to the great work of our 120,000 team members,” said Doug Parker, Chairman and CEO.
“As we enter 2017, we will continue to make upgrades to American through new product initiatives. These include Basic Economy which will further our goal to offer the right fares and features for every customer, and, on international flights, our Premium Economy product. And no matter which product our customers choose, they’ll be transported on the youngest fleet among our large U.S. competitors.
“Our product investments are showing up in our unit revenue performance. We had the largest improvement in unit revenue among our competitors and as we look forward, we continue to see strong demand for air service, and improving yields.”
