Weak pound takes effect on British Airways owner IAG’s profits

These are the figures…

IAG, the owner of British Airways and Iberia, saw its final year profits hit by the weak pound by 460m euros (£388m).

Willie Walsh, IAG’s chief executive, said: “It was a good performance in a challenging environment with an operating profit of 2.5bn euros before exceptional items.”

This figure is up by 8.6 per cent, in line with the company’s expectations.

However, revenue was down 1.3 per cent, revenue per passenger fell by 5.4 per cent.

The airline group has plans to carry out a share buyback of 500m euros in 2017.

Although the weak pound hit profits, IAG had continued to make good progress, according to Walsh.

He also added: “In 2016, we carried more than 100m passengers – double the number British Airways and Iberia carried in 2010, a year before IAG was created,”