company posts record half-year profit of $2.7 billion

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Emirates Group posted its highest-ever half-year earnings, reporting net profit of 10.1 billion dirhams ($2.75 billion) for 2023-24 on rebounding demand.

The figure eclipsed its half-year profit of the previous year — 4.2 billion dirhams — by 138%.

The earnings beat was driven by strong demand for international travel, as the industry continues its recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. Group revenue was 67.3 billion dirhams, up 20% from the previous year’s six-month revenue figure.

Emirates Group, the state-owned Dubai-based holding company of which Emirates Airline is a subsidiary, also reported a figure for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of 20.6 billion dirhams, up from 15.3 billion dirhams the same period last year. It reported its cash position at 42.7 billion dirhams.

“The Group has been able to tap on its own strong cash reserves to support business needs, including debt payments,” the company’s earnings statement said, adding that Emirates has reimbursed 9.2 billion dirhams of its Covid-19 related loans and the group has paid 4.5 billion dirhams in dividend to its owner, which was declared at the end of the 2022-23 financial year.

Emirates Airline and Group Chairman and CEO, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al Maktoum, said in an accompanying statement, “We are seeing the fruition of our plans to return stronger and better from the dark days of the pandemic. The Group has surpassed previous records to report our best-ever half-year performance.”

He added that the group’s profit for the first six months of the 2023-2024 financial year has “nearly matched our record full year profit in 2022-23.”

“For the second half of 2023-24, we expect customer demand across our business divisions to remain healthy and we will stay agile in how we deploy our resources in this dynamic marketplace,” Al Maktoum said. “At the same time, we are keeping a close watch on headwinds such as rising fuel prices, the strengthening US dollar, inflationary costs, and geo-politics.”