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London - British low-cost airline easyJet reported a small rise in winter bookings on Tuesday, shrugging off concerns about an increasingly competitive European travel market.
The company also posted a 21.5% rise in pretax profit to £581m for the year ended September 30, in line with an upgraded forecast it made last month.
Cheap fares have helped easyJet and rival Ryanair win market share in the European short-haul travel sector, against traditional airlines such as Air France-KLM and Lufthansa, which have recently announced plans to expand their own budget services.
"EasyJet has proved that its profit upgrades earlier in the year were fully justified, whilst its outlook remains defiantly upbeat," said Hargreaves Lansdown's head of equities Richard Hunter.
The company, Europe's No. 2 low-cost carrier after Ryanair, said its strong position in main airports, where new slots are not readily available, would help it to attract more customers.
It did not give any figures for the rise in winter bookings, but said it expected to increase capacity, measured in seats flown, by around 3.5% in the first half of its new financial year, and by about 5% for the full year.
Ireland's Ryanair has recently been moving into space traditionally occupied by easyJet -- improving its previously much criticised customer service and expanding into main airports used by business travellers.
That strategy and a surge in winter bookings helped Ryanair raise its annual profit forecast by almost 20% earlier this month.
Shares in easyJet traded down 1.2% to 1 523 pence at 10:52, with analysts saying the muted reaction was expected, in the context of an 18% rise over the past three months, compared with Britain's blue-chip index which is trading 1% lower in the period.
EasyJet also said it would lift its ordinary dividend per share by 35.5% to 45.4 pence, in line with a proposal made earlier this year to reward shareholders with 40% of profit, above the previous one-third distribution.
