Shares in Wizz Air Holdings PLC fell by nearly a quarter early Thursday, after the Eastern Europe-focused budget airline reported a more than 90% fall in annual profit.
Wizz Air shares were down 25% to 1,259.00 pence in London for a £1.31 billion market capitalisation. It was the by far the biggest faller in the FTSE 250 index, which itself was down just 0.3%.
The Budapest-based carrier posted pretax profit of €19.7 million for the financial year that ended March 31, down 94% from €341.1 million, despite a 3.8% rise in revenue to €5.27 billion from €5.07 billion, amid higher costs.
Wizz also suffered from having 42 aircraft grounded as of the end of March due to GTF engine issues. This since was reduced to 37 in May and is expected to be reduced to 34 by the end of the first half of the current financial year.
Operating profit was €167.5 million in financial 2025, down 62% from €437.9 million in financial 2024, as operating expenses increased by 19% to €3.30 billion from €2.78 billion.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation was €1.13 billion down 4.9% from €1.19 billion, as Ebitda margin narrowed to 21.5% from 23.5%.
Net debt remained high, edging up 3.5% to €4.96 billion from €4.79 billion. Wizz pays no dividend.
Wizz declined to give detailed guidance for the current year due to ‘the lack of visibility across our trading seasons’ although it said it expects higher revenue.
Wizz said revenue in financial 2026 will be higher than in financial 2025, supported by its current bookings. It expects to grow its capacity by 20% in the full year, starting with a low-to-mid teens percentage in the first half.
Looking to the key summer trading season this year, Wizz said load factor for the coming months is up 2 percentage points but fares are down by a low single-digit percentage in order to drive traffic.
Wizz Air carried 63.4 million passengers in financial 2025, up 2.2% from 62.0 million in financial 2024. Load factor was 91.2%, up 90.1% in financial 2024.
‘I describe our fiscal year F25 with two words: resilience and transformation,’ commented Chief Executive Officer Jozsef Varadi.
‘In an environment where rare challenges have become recurrent, Wizz Air has evolved structurally, embedding increased flexibility into our standard operating model. While often dismissed as ’easier said than done,’ the past year’s events tested both our company and management. We emerged stronger, wiser, and better prepared.’
The CEO added: ‘Wizz Air is a more resilient business today. Despite the unproductivity of a grounded fleet, we successfully delivered a second consecutive year of profitability.’
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