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Asian lessors CALC and BOC Aviation report first-half figures
September 1st 2017
Hong Kong’s China Aircraft Leasing Company (CALC) and Singapore’s BOC Aviation Ltd have reported their first-half results. Read More » CALC’s revenues increased 22.5%, to HK$1,258 million (US$162.9 million), to June 30 and net profit improved 3.6%, to HK$248.7 million.The lessor’s total assets rose 10.1% in the first half, to HK$34,028.7 million. The lessor declared an interim dividend of HK$0.18 per share, up 29% year-on-year.
In the reported six months, CALC delivered nine aircraft to new customers, of which six were delivered to overseas carriers, deals that expanded its client base to 20 airlines “across eight countries and regions”, CALC said.
At June 30, CALC had 90 aircraft in a fleet that averaged 3.8 years. The Hong Kong-headquartered firm has 138 single aisle aircraft, mostly Airbus planes, on order. But CALC signed a significant Boeing order in June for 50 B737 MAX aircraft scheduled for delivery in stages up to 2023. In August, CALC placed an A320 with Japan’s Vanilla Air and an A321 to HNA Group’s Tianjin Airlines.
CALC CEO, Mike Poon, said: “Leveraging on our competitive advantages built over a decade, and as a key global aviation industry player, we continued to expand our fleet in the first half of this year and achieved a significant step forward by adding the Boeing 737 MAX series aircraft into our fleet for the near-term future. Our track record of effective marketing and efficient placements showcases our capability to provide full life-cycle aircraft solutions as a means to enlarge our international client base globally in the dynamic market, generating added-value for our customers and shareholders.”
The lessor boss added: “As Hong Kong is forging ahead with its initiatives to develop into an international aircraft leasing hub and aviation finance centre, we wish to continue our active role in the aviation industry and work with the Hong Kong government by leveraging on our expertise in global financing, insights as well as our previous experience in promoting Tianjin as one of China’s major leasing hubs. Currently, we are actively planning to extend our leasing platform to Hong Kong as a first mover in support of the government’s initiative.”
Singapore-based BOC Aviation Ltd performed better in the first half than CALC. Its revenue increased 16%, to US$670 million, in the first six months and net profit grew 13% to US$240 million. Total assets rose by 7%, to US$14.4 billion.
The lessor maintains strong liquidity with US$333 million in cash and fixed deposits as well as US$4 billion in undrawn committed credit facilities.
BOC has a portfolio of 297 owned and managed aircraft, with an average aircraft age of 3.1 years and an average remaining lease term of 7.8 years for the owned aircraft fleet, each weighted by net book value. Its has 196 aircraft on order which are scheduled for delivery to 2021. BOC’s customer base also is much broader than CALC, with 75 airline customers in 34 countries.
BOC Aviation managing director and CEO, Robert Martin said, “BOC Aviation delivered an excellent result in the first half of 2017, earning a net profit after tax of US$240 million, up 13% compared with the same period last year. The net book value of aircraft, including assets held for sale, increased 25% over the first half of last year, to US$12.1 billion, which reflected our investment activities since our initial public offering in June 2016.”
Martin believed many Asia-Pacific carriers have over ordered, although he stopped short of identifying them. “If you look at the original delivery schedules people thought they’re going to take, our feeling is that won’t happen,” Martin told Bloomberg on Tuesday. “Certainly in Southeast Asia, we are going to see some slimming down of order books.”
