Amedeo Air Four Plus has announced results covering the 12 months to end March 2024. The year-end NAV was 111.5p, down from 112.3p a year earlier. Dividends totalled 7.25p, up from 5.5p for the prior year.
Chairman Robin Hallam said:
“The past year has seen rapid changes in the aviation industry with strong airline performances from our two lessees, Emirates and Thai Airways, as passenger traffic continues to improve. Boeing’s travails are front page news, less so are the continuing labour and parts supply issues which are hindering efforts by equipment manufacturers to fill the supply gap left by COVID shutdowns. Whilst some airlines are still paying off government financial support from 2020, others are placing large orders for new generation aircraft.”
“We have been advised by Amedeo Limited that our 4 aircraft leased to Thai Airways have an aggregate surplus value in excess of debt of at least US$ 100m. Aggregate outstanding debt across these 4 aircraft is, as at 31 March 2024, US$ 343,905,025. Whilst the lease rentals from Thai Airways do not provide dividend income to the company, nevertheless, due to the lower interest rates achieved by the existence of highly favourable derivatives, they act to reduce outstanding debt.”
Thai Airways has returned to profitability, is ordering new aircraft, and expects to complete its capital restructuring by the end of 2024. Thailand’s Ministry of Finance will invest THB12bn (US$ 330m) in Thai Airways by October 2024,
with the aim of relisting the airline on the Stock Exchange of Thailand by mid-2025.
Emirates is retrofitting almost all of its A380 fleet with a new premium economy layout, including MSNs 187, 201, 206, 208, and 42334 that are owned by Amedeo. This is clearly encouraging, but there is still a question mark about whether or when these will be replaced by Boeing 777Xs – the statement says Emirates has ordered 200 of these and deliveries may start in early 2026.
The chair also says that “a great deal of work is being done in assessing the best way forward, with a number of different industry participants and advisers including our asset manager, Amedeo Limited.” Three capital returns – in 2020,2021, and 2023 – have already returned £156.5m to shareholders, on top of substantial dividend income.
AA4 : Airline recovery encouraging for Amedeo Air Four Plus
