Stock Take

Ellie Donnelly: Shareholders’ wings clipped as Ryanair makes them wait for dividends

Michael O’Leary says it could be 2025 before the airline shares profits as it concentrates on buying more aircraft

Michael O’Leary: ‘We have a lot of spending on capital, and then, and only then, will we look to restoring shareholder rewards’

Those with shares in Ryanair will have to wait a little bit longer for their dividends, according to the airline’s chief executive.

Addressing shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting last week, Michael O’Leary said he would be “reasonably optimistic” that shareholder returns will happen in 2025, if not beforehand.

The Covid-19 pandemic was an “existential shock” for airlines over the last two years, and Ryanair had not lost money between 1988 and 2019-2020, O’Leary ...