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Emirates Group, the parent company of the Dubai airline and dnata aviation services company, will pay out over $300 million in staff bonuses to its 95,000 employees, according to Zawya calculations, as the state-owned aviation giant on Tuesday reported its 28th consecutive year in profit.
The group reported a net annual profit of 8.2 billion dirhams ($2.2 billion) for the financial year ended March 31, 2016, a year-on-year increase of 50 percent, according to an annual report. This was despite revenue decreasing 3 percent to 93 billion dirhams, mainly as a result of the challenges posed by the strong U.S dollar.
An Emirates spokesperson told Zawya that staff would be paid the equivalent of five weeks salary -- which means the Group would pay out 1.126 billion dirhams ($306 million) in bonuses this year, according to Zawya calculations. The spokesperson declined to give the exact figure paid in bonuses, or a breakdown of the amount.
The number of employees rose 13 percent year-on-year to 95,322 people.
In the fiscal year 2014-2015, total profit share payment was 1 billion dirhams, a company spokesperson had said in published remarks last year.
Airline revenue down
The Emirates airline division, which is the largest international carrier in the world, reported a 56 percent rise in net profit to 7.1 billion dirhams, despite revenue decreasing 4 percent to 85 billion dirhams. Its wage bill represents 16 percent of its totals costs and the second highest operating cost after fuel, the annual report showed.
In 2015-16, the airline's total workforce increased by 8 percent to 48,023. According to the company's annual report, the airline's revenue per employee was 1.717 million dirhams, a year-on-year decrease of 11.4 percent.
Dnata, the group's aviation services division, reported its most profitable year since it began operations 57 years ago. Net profit rose 16 percent to 1.1 billion dirhams, while revenue rose 16 percent to 10.6 billion dirhams.
The number of dnata staff rose 24 percent to 34,117, with its wage bill accounting for 40 percent of total operating costs. In terms of productivity, average revenue per employee decreased 24 percent year-on-year to 333,000 dirhams.
"The (Dnata average revenue per employee) decrease arises from the impact of the recent acquisitions in ground handling services," the Group said in the annual report.
Emirates Group was founded in 1959 and is owned by the Investment Corporation of Dubai, the emirate's sovereign wealth fund. The Group said it paid a dividend of 2.5 billion dirhams for 2015-2016, down slightly from the 2.6 billion dirhams paid the previous year.
© Zawya 2016
