LOS ANGELES, Feb. 23, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Air Lease Corporation (ALC) (NYSE:AL) announces record financial results for the year and three months ended December 31, 2016.

Revenues:
- $1.4 billion for the full year 2016, an increase of 16.0%
- $370.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2016, an increase of 13.4%
Diluted earnings per share:
- $3.44 for the full year 2016, an increase of 47.0%
- $0.89 for the fourth quarter of 2016, an increase of 20.3%
Adjusted diluted earnings per share before income taxes:
- $5.67 per share for the full year 2016, an increase of 22.2%
- $1.48 per share for the fourth quarter of 2016, an increase of 22.3%
Margin:
- Pre-tax margin of 40.9% for the full year 2016
- Adjusted pre-tax margin of 44.1% for the full year 2016
Return on equity:
- Pre-tax return on equity of 18.1% for the full year 2016
- Adjusted pre-tax return on equity of 19.5% for the full year 2016
Highlights

Signed agreements for 122 aircraft with 39 customers across 33 countries during the year ended December 31, 2016.
Ended the year with a net book value of $12.0 billion in aircraft with a weighted average age of 3.8 years and a weighted average lease term remaining of 6.9 years.
Minimum future contracted rentals for our current and future fleet increased to $23.8 billion.
Placed 92% of our order book on long-term leases for aircraft delivering through 2019.
Sold 46 aircraft for proceeds of $1.2 billion during the year ended December 31, 2016, including the completion of the sales for all of our remaining ATR aircraft and 20 of our 25 Embraer aircraft to Nordic Aviation Capital.
In January 2017, we received an investment grade corporate and long-term debt credit rating of ‘BBB’ with a stable outlook from Fitch Ratings Inc (“Fitch”).
Declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.075 per share on our outstanding common stock for the fourth quarter of 2016. The dividend will be paid on April 7, 2017 to holders of record of our common stock as of March 20, 2017.
“We had a great fourth quarter and a terrific year, posting record financial results in a highly competitive lease market. Global passenger growth increased a healthy 6.3% in 2016 and continues to provide a fundamental stimulus to our business going forward. We completed the sale of all but five units (scheduled to be completed Q1 2017) of our Embraer fleet to NAC, which for the first time drove our aircraft sales over $1 billion for the year. We continue to pursue strategic initiatives that build on our core competencies, and we enter 2017 with a tailwind from our new investment grade ‘BBB’ rating from Fitch,” said John L. Plueger, Chief Executive Officer and President.

“Our team positioned ALC for future growth with the quality and earning power of our jet fleet, lessee diversification, and a solid balance sheet, with investment grade ratings from three agencies. We successfully pre-leased more single-aisle and twin-aisle aircraft than in any previous year, which we believe has enabled us to lock in excellent long-term commercial business with stable and growing cash flows. The professionalism with which the ALC team performed, on both new aircraft leasing and sales of used aircraft, deserves much credit. We focused on building shareholder value during 2016 by producing strong financial results and by increasing our common stock dividends by 50%. We believe we are well positioned for another successful year in 2017,” said Steven F. Udvar-Házy, Executive Chairman of the Board.

Flight Equipment Portfolio

As of December 31, 2016, our fleet was comprised of 237 owned aircraft, with a weighted-average age and remaining lease term of 3.8 years and 6.9 years, respectively, and 30 managed aircraft. We have a globally diversified customer base of 85 airlines in 51 countries.

During the year ended December 31, 2016, we took delivery of 43 aircraft from our order book and sold 46 aircraft from our operating lease portfolio.

Debt Financing Activities

We ended the fourth quarter of 2016 with total debt, net of discounts and issuance costs, of $8.7 billion resulting in a debt to equity ratio of 2.58:1.

Our debt financing was comprised of unsecured debt of $8.1 billion, representing 92.4% of our debt portfolio as of December 31, 2016 as compared to 88.4% as of December 31, 2015. Our fixed rate debt represented 83.5% of our debt portfolio as of December 31, 2016 as compared to 78.7% as of December 31, 2015. Our composite cost of funds decreased to 3.42% as of December 31, 2016 as compared to 3.59% as of December 31, 2015.