BA owner IAG Group's profits surge by a third

British Airways owner IAG Group has reported an increase in pre-tax profit of around a third for 2016, hitting €2.4bn (£2bn) "in spite of a slight dip in revenue", says the Daily Telegraph.

The company, which also owns airlines Aer Lingus and Iberia, said it had benefitted from a 20 per cent fall to €4.9bn (£4.1bn) for fuel, oil and emissions costs.

That helped offset a 1.3 per cent drop in revenue to €22.6bn (£19.1bn), the result of long-standing "overcapacity across the airline industry [that] has helped contribute to a drop in air fares", says the Telegraph.

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IAG also suffered a €460m (£388m) currency hit related to the fall in the pound.

As the group reports in euros, any earnings made in sterling will be worth less following its fall of around ten per cent against the single currency since the Brexit vote in June.

However, the fall in overheads still left profit margins overall up by 1.2 per cent.

IAG Group announced a 12.5p dividend per share, taking the annual total to 23.5p, together with a €500m (£422m) share buy-back for this year, which helped the share price rise 2.5 per cent to 516p this morning.