Assignment 010 Finance for Decision Making
Introduction
If we want to maintain the competitiveness of our product and service offerings, we must engage with and understand our customers.. To win their business, we must first gain their trust, followed by their loyalty. Only after that can we expect to win their business.
- We conduct periodic customer surveys after they return from a trip and before launching a new product in order to have a better understanding of what our consumers think of our goods. Our services and offers will benefit from this as we continue to develop them. To assess and track our progress, we utilise our Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for Customer Satisfaction as a yardstick . By using the Brand Tracker and social media monitoring in comparison to rivals, we can keep track of the strength of our brands throughout the whole European continent.
In order to better understand the input they get from consumers, we encourage our staff to communicate with management on a regular basis. They may do so via frequent feedback sessions and online discussion forums.
Comparison with competitors and industry
In response to the findings of our materiality research, customers are growing more concerned about their carbon footprint. We want to link our customers across Europe and beyond in a cost-effective way, but we also recognise that our customers are growing more conscious of the environmental impact of their purchases.
EasyJet strives to be a leader in the aviation sector in tackling this issue, and it aspires to do so as a pioneer among airlines in addressing this issue. After receiving feedback from customers and other stakeholders, we became the first major airline to offset carbon emissions from fuel used on all of our flights as of that day, becoming the first major airline to do so. We were also the first large airline to do so.
The Board of Directors of American Airlines established a new sustainability plan in November of this year, making us the first major airline in the industry to do so. Despite the fact that offsetting is just a temporary solution, the Board of Directors believes that new technologies are necessary in the long term, despite the objections highlighted above. The book begins a section on sustainability on page 36, and it will continue until the end of the book, if everything goes well. This section includes more information about environmental sustainability.
Because to COVID-19, the Group was forced to make difficult choices that had a substantial effect on our customers, such as the grounding of the fleet, the cancellation of flights, and the rescheduling of flights that were already on the schedule for the day. A huge number of cancellation and refund requests were received as a consequence, which our customer service specialists were unable to handle owing to the enormous number of requests received.
As a result, customers’ travel plans are interrupted, and customer service specialists are on standby to assist them with specialised assistance requests or to make necessary arrangements for their departure from the country. Customer service staff in the United Kingdom and across the globe engage with customers using a number of means, including phone, email, and social media.
Several inaugural flights were taken by the airline’s chief executive officer (CEO) and other senior management board members in preparation for the airline’s resumption of flight operations in June 2020. The purpose of these flights was to gauge how consumers responded to the airline’s enhanced biosecurity measures before the airline resumed flight operations in June 2020.
Budgeting
In these times of uncertainty and unpredictability, the ability to maintain communication with colleagues has been critical. Johan Lundgren, the company’s vice president of human resources, provided labour unions and employee representative organisations with a daily update on the company’s response to the epidemic. He also met with them on a regular basis throughout the company’s distribution network to discuss the company’s response to the disease.
Next, the company’s workers were provided with regular updates through email and video to keep them aware of the company’s reaction to the disease and the repercussions of the illness. In her capacity as Employee Representative Director, Moya Greene DBE has worked to ensure that the viewpoints of workers are taken into consideration throughout the Board’s decision-making process (Mrňa,2021).
- Our activities were forced to be curtailed as a consequence of the unexpected and widespread drop in demand caused by the outbreak, and we were unable to deal with the unanticipated situation.
- After these adjustments were implemented, a survey of workers was conducted in order to get proposals on how to cut the number of staff by up to 30 percent as a direct result of the changes. Various representative organisations from all around Europe were tasked with organising consultation sessions tailored to the specific requirements of each country; some of these sessions are still taking place today. With a number of critical goals in place, the Board of Directors was able to ensure that negative impacts on workers were kept to an absolute minimum while as many jobs as possible were preserved.
While serving as Employee Representative Director, Moya Greene DBE, a member of the Board of Directors, has spoken with workers during her tenure with the organisation. In addition, as part of her responsibilities as Employee Representative Director, she has attended three meetings of employee representative groups in the United Kingdom and Europe so far this year.
Forced layoffs have been very rare at our company since the founding of our employee advocacy organisations. This is primarily due to the efforts of the individuals involved. A certain level of trust has been maintained among our personnel as a result, even during this trying time. Depending on the precise circumstances, this will have the effect of removing up to 30% of our commitments from the organisation, depending on the individual circumstances.
Taking care of our workers’ physical and emotional well-being is our top concern, and in response to the pandemic and a rise in the number of people who work from their homes, we have developed a comprehensive set of services.
Every step of an employee’s professional development is encouraged and supported by our organisation, which offers training and development opportunities for workers at all levels of authority (Welc, 2018).
In addition to headline expenditures of £438 million in the 2020 financial year (as opposed to a net profit of £3 million the previous year), easyJet reported non-headline expenditures of £438 million in the previous year.
When we received negative feedback from our customers, we realised that our service standards were falling short of the high standards that they had come to expect from us, and we took steps to correct the situation. • Because their respective headquarters are situated in countries that have been sanctioned by the United States government, the Airline Management Board and the PLC Board get a substantial quantity of emotional and constructive input from their respective consumers.
Because of consumer input, we chose to expand our customer service centres (CSCs), which has resulted in higher levels of customer satisfaction. Based on consumer feedback and other factors, CMC’s overall level of customer satisfaction has reached an unparalleled high point in the last year, according to the corporation. When compared to the same period last year and the same period this year, customers’ satisfaction with our operations has increased dramatically since June.
The enormous positive reaction we received from customers after the re-launch of easyJet vacations in November 2019 demonstrates that we understand their need for simplicity, choice, and a good bargain. A new protection promise, to be introduced by Simplejet on Oct. 1, 2020, will include a best-price guarantee, a full refund for cancellations made up to 28 days before departure (without incurring any fees), and an update to the company’s standard terms and conditions. As a consequence of this, the company’s standard terms and conditions will be modified, enabling customers to book with more confidence in the future.
When preparing financial statements for a business, it is critical to distinguish between non-recurring items and those that do not adequately represent the overall commercial success of the organisation, in order to prevent misconceptions. Further information about these charges may be found in the notes to the financial statements that accompany the financial statements and give extra context. The following are a some of the more noteworthy examples:
As a result of the sale of 33 aircraft and subsequent leaseback, a total profit of £38 million was realised (a profit of £2 million was realised during the current fiscal year).
Restructuring costs are estimated to be about 123 million pounds in 2019 (2019: zero), with the allocation for lease aircraft impairment costing 37 million pounds (2019: ten million pounds) (Zero for the calendar year 2019)
It was determined that the termination of hedges and the adjustment of fair value assumptions resulted in a $311 million penalty being issued against the company in 2019.
A discrepancy between the balance sheet monetary assets and liabilities was discovered in the first quarter of 2019, and this was confirmed in the second quarter of 2019. An impairment charge of $5 million was recorded (against which a gain of $2 million was realised in the following year).
EasyJet’s Brexit-mitigation plan will cost the airline £0.4 million in recurring organisation and legal costs in the first quarter of 2019 (for a total of £4 million in 2019 expenditures), according to a recent report.
Adoption of an EFFECTIVE BUSINESS MODEL as part of regular business operations
A low-cost airline based in the United Kingdom, EasyJet, has developed a low-cost model that targets short-haul leisure passengers while also providing outstanding value for money and a customer-centric approach as part of its goal to assist European aviation in rebounding from the effects of the COVID-19 agreement, according to the company.
Within a short length of time after recuperating from the illness, individuals will be ready to go on vacation and see their families, which will serve as the first indicator that an epidemic has come to an end.
It is more usual in short-haul countries than in long-haul economies for governments to impose travel restrictions, with short-haul countries being more likely than long-haul economies to impose restrictions that are tied to one another. Furthermore, short-haul and low-cost flights will be preferred by customers since they are seen as less dangerous and need a lower financial commitment on behalf of the airline company.
Moreover, EasyJet’s cost base is very adaptable, allowing us to adjust our price in response to variations in demand in the market on an as-needed basis.
Our continual development at the most significant leisure travel airports in Europe will allow us to improve our capacity share in the top 20 European leisure airports from 13.6 percent in 2020 to 13.6% in 2020 as a result of easyJet’s continued expansion.
When our seasonal hubs in Malaga and Faro reopen their doors for business the following year, we expect this market share to increase even more..
The firm will thus be well-positioned to capitalise on the increasing demand for business travel services when the business travel market starts to revive.
The rise in corporate purchases by EasyJet and other value-oriented airlines coincided with the global financial crisis, which witnessed a 56 percent increase.
Investment appraisal:
- It is probable that EasyJet may acquire a large amount of market share, owing to the airline’s exceptional value for money credentials mixed with the economic crisis that has developed as a consequence of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Simple reasons include the fact that easyJet was able to respond quickly when quarantine regulations in the United Kingdom were recently revised, which was made possible by the extraordinary resilience of our business model. According to our statistics, sales in the Canary Islands increased by 876 percent in the five days after the removal of travel restrictions for citizens of the United Kingdom.
We were able to add 180,000 seats across all UK bases within 24 hours of the news being made public because our digital assets (website homepage and app banner, as well as email push notifications) were updated as quickly as possible. This brought the total number of seats available to more than 2 million within 24 hours. As a result of the news, more tickets were made available within 48 hours of its release, and a full social media campaign on Facebook and Instagram was initiated to increase awareness of the issue.
As part of our ongoing efforts to limit our use of plastic aboard and in our onground services, as well as other initiatives, we have eliminated more than 25 million individual pieces of plastic from our in-flight retail activities to far. We will continue to make efforts to reduce our carbon footprint, and this is another another step in the right way in that direction for the company.
The EasyJet Group and its supplier network are also working together to minimise waste and plastic use throughout the whole company, as well. This is where future charity efforts will be focused, in order to incorporate environmental sustainability into our business culture and to promote environmental sustainability as a fundamental component of our corporate culture. Our long-standing connection with our charity partner, Unicef, which we have supported via onboard collections since 2012, has enabled us to make major contributions to the eradication of wild polio in Africa.
Thanks to the hard work of our staff and the generosity of our donors, Unicef will be able to reach this critical milestone.
The decision to operate in a more sustainable way in the future has been decided in light of the significant problems that the pandemic has presented to easyJet and other airlines, as well as to the whole aviation sector. It is expected that the United States will continue to be a leader in the reduction of our own carbon emissions, while also contributing in the development of technology that will help the transportation industry become more environmentally friendly in the critical decades to come. (Alberto 2021)”
Although the outbreak has caused significant inconvenience for many of our customers, easyJet has managed to preserve a significant market share advantage over rival low-cost airlines (LCCs). It was a positive development for us this year to see an increase in our ‘first choice brand’ score as well as brand trust across all of our main markets, which was welcome news (UK, France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy).
According to a study conducted in the fourth quarter of this year, customer satisfaction increased by 14 percentage points year on year, bringing the overall score to 83 percent.
Due to the fact that returning customers are less costly to acquire and often purchase twice as many flights per year as new customers, it is critical to preserve client loyalty to the greatest extent feasible.. Returning consumers secured 87 percent of our available seats in 2020, representing a 9 percent increase over the total number of tickets purchased the previous year.
Clients, we feel, are looking for businesses in which they can put their faith while also receiving the finest deal that is currently available on the market.
In a number of countries, such as the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, and Italy1, price-to-value measures imply that low-cost airline easyJet offers the best value. If and when demand begins to rise again, the airline’s great track record in terms of value for money, as well as its customer-centric approach, will serve as significant differentiators for the company.
With the goal of maximising the potential of its current brand power, the airline will make steps to guarantee that customers may buy their tickets with confidence as a part of its entire commitment to customer satisfaction. The airline will not only provide excellent value for money, but it will also offer a remarkable digital experience, both of which will be key competitive advantages for the company.
In the case that demand increases, we will be able to scale up manufacturing exceptionally rapidly if necessary in order to satisfy the new demand.
BREXIT
Following a “no deal” Brexit scenario, the airline has been operating under such circumstances since March 2019, according to the company. Following the airline’s assertion that it is fully prepared for the conclusion of the Brexit transition period on December 31, 2020, which is slated to take place on December 31, 2020, the airline claims to be completely ready (the “Transition Period”).
The easyJet group, which was formed in March 2019 through the merger of three airlines based in Austria, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, is currently comprised of three airlines based in Austria, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The easyJet group was formed in March 2019 through the merger of three airlines based in Austria, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Founded in March 2019 as a result of the merging of three airlines operating in Austria, Switzerland, and the UK, the easyJet group is the world’s largest low-cost carrier.
The easyJet group, which was established in March 2019 as a consequence of the merger of three airlines that operated in Austria, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, is the world’s biggest low-cost carrier. In the event that the EU and the United Kingdom are unable to reach an agreement on aviation matters before the Transition Period ends, EasyJet will be entitled to continue operating flights within the EU and inside EU member states until the Transition Period ends.
In order to be authorised to continue operating flights inside Europe after the Transition Term has expired, EasyJet must guarantee that it continues to operate in compliance with European ownership and control requirements on a continuous basis after the period has expired.
EU nationals1 presently account for 45.2 percent of our company’s stock, which is a considerable share of our total equity base. Because of this, the airline’s board of directors is prepared to use existing provisions in the airline’s articles of association to ensure that the airline will be able to meet its obligations after the Transition Period is completed if the airline’s level of EU ownership falls below 50 percent plus one as a result of the transition period.
Conclusion
It is possible to achieve this purpose by simply using easyJet’s existing capacity to suspend the voting rights of chosen British and non-EU citizens, which is already in place. If shareholders, including those who speak and vote on their behalf, continue to participate in shareholder meetings for the duration of the suspension, it would be illegal for them to continue to do so during that time.
With the exception of corporate personnel, nationals of the United Kingdom and other countries who have recently acquired shares in the business would have their voting rights suspended on a first-come, first-served basis on the basis of their country of residence. This regulation would apply to any and all persons who have lately acquired shares in the company.
If the EU’s ownership stake in the firm falls below 50 percent, the EU will simply be compelled to suspend its capacity to vote in the company.
References
Alberto, M. and Minh, H., 2019. Easyjet Plc Airlines: take-off to new opportunities (Doctoral dissertation).
Keep, M. and Ward, M., 2020. Support for the tourism industry after the Covid-19 lockdown.
Kiraci, K., 2019. Determinants of financial risk: An empirical application on low-cost carriers. Scientific Annals of Economics and Business, 66(3), pp.335-349.
McLaney, E. and Atrill, P., 2020. Accounting and Finance. Pearson Education, Limited.
Mrňa, D. and Badánik, B., 2021, November. Differences in low-cost airline operating models in 2018, 2019 and 2020–comparison of easyJet, Ryanair and Wizz Air. In 2021 New Trends in Aviation Development (NTAD) (pp. 128-133). IEEE.
Mrňa, D. and Badánik, B., 2021, November. Differences in low-cost airline operating models in 2018, 2019 and 2020–comparison of easyJet, Ryanair and Wizz Air. In 2021 New Trends in Aviation Development (NTAD) (pp. 128-133). IEEE.
Rudež, H.N., 2022. The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Investor Sentiments: Evidence from 12 Selected Major Tourism-Related Companies. Managing Global Transitions, 20(1).
Rusly, N., 2019. An Analysis Of easyHotel PLC Company’s Performance.
Welc, J. and Esquerdo, P.J.R., 2018. Real-Life Case Study: Identifying Overvalued and Undervalued Airlines. In Applied Regression Analysis for Business (pp. 257-276). Springer, Cham.
Welc, J., 2020. Techniques of Increasing Comparability and Reliability of Reported Accounting Numbers: Selected Simple Tools. In Reading Between the Lines of Corporate Financial Reports (pp. 321-365). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
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