RYAAY Ryanair Holdings PLC

LONDON—Ryanair Holdings PLC stuck to its earnings target for the year after first-quarter profit rose 4%, bucking a trend for European carriers.

Ryanair on Monday posted a €256 million ($281 million) net profit for the April-June period, up from €245 million a year earlier. Sales were up 2% to €1.687 billion.

Still, Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers said its earnings outlook for full-year profit in the range of €1.375 billion to €1.425 billion bears risk. It now expects to carry 117 million passengers in the financial year ending March 31, up 1 million from its initial projection.

"We caution that post Brexit there are significant risks to the downside during the remainder of the year," the carrier said.

Airline earnings have been hit by a sequence of shocks in recent months. Terrorist attacks, repeated air-traffic-control strikes, and the U.K.'s vote to leave the European Union have dented consumer confidence and slowed bookings. Airlines have had to offer steep discounts to fill planes.

British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines Group SA cut its forecast for profit growth immediately after the Brexit vote. British budget airline easyJet PLC followed with a profit warning and, last week, said this month's terrorist attack in Nice and failed coup in Turkey could cause another demand slump. Deutsche Lufthansa AG on Wednesday said profit would fall this year, rather than rise slightly as previously forecast. The German carrier said terrorist incidents had led to a sharp fall in long-haul bookings.

Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said "ongoing market volatility" weakened fares on last-minute flights.

Winter is expected to be particular difficult for European airlines, as they slash fares to try to win customers leery about traveling. Ryanair, which stuck to its projection that fares in that slow-travel period could fall 10% to 12%, said "if there is any movement in these numbers it is likely to be toward the downside."

Share prices of Europe's airlines have nose dived this year, Ryanair down 27%, rival easyJet more than 40% and IAG 34%. Ryanair used the slump to accelerate a previously announced share-buyback program in June. The airline on Wednesday is seeking shareholder approval for another repurchase program of as much as 10% of its stock should the price swoon provide buying opportunities.

Mr. O'Leary lobbied hard for the U.K. to remain in the EU. The airline called the outcome "both a surprise and a disappointment." Since the Brexit vote, he said, the airline would deploy new planes due for delivery elsewhere.

Ryanair said it would cut available seats on routes from its busy London Stansted hub this winter, though without closing any routes. It forecasts that uncertainty from Brexit will keep at least the pound low and economic growth depressed in the U.K. and Europe through at least the end of next year.

If Britain's ties to the European single-aviation market are severed, it could jeopardize the few all-domestic U.K. routes Ryanair operates, the budget airline said, and also hurt British shareholders. It said such a severing could also provide opportunities, though, as British rivals may be forced to retrench from some intra-EU markets.

Ryanair said it is making contingency plans. EasyJet has said it plans to seek a EU operating license, in addition to its British and Swiss ones, to preserve traffic rights if those are in jeopardy from post-Brexit trade agreements.

Write to Robert Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 25, 2016 01:25 ET (05:25 GMT)

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