easyJet Share News (EZJ)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Airlines are trading higher Friday after low-cost airlines easyJet and Flybe Group said they flew more passengers and filled more of the seats in their planes in recent weeks.

EasyJet said it flew 5.1 million passengers in March, up from nearly 4.9 million in March 2013, while load factor, a measure of how many seats on its planes are filled, rose to 91.5%, from 90.5%. For the 12 months to the end of March, easyJet flew 61.8 million passengers, up from 59.7 million, and its load factor rose to 89.5%, from 89.4%. The airline has led the FTSE 100 gainers for much of morning trading.

Fellow FTSE 100 stock, International Consolidated Airlines Group, owner of British Airways, is also trading higher after saying Thursday that its traffic measured in revenue passenger kilometres increased 10.2% on the year in March, although its load factor fell as capacity increased 13.2%.

Small-cap stock Flybe is also trading higher after it said passenger volumes were up 6% on the year to 1.6 million in the three months to the end of March, the fourth quarter of its financial year. Its load factor rose six percentage points to 70% as capacity was also reduced by 4% to 2.2 million seats.

Irish flag carrier Aer Lingus, on the other hand, said passenger numbers fell to 703,000 in March, from 757,000 a year earlier. The stock is down as its load factor declined to 74.7%, from 79.9% in March 2013, as its capacity only fell 1.6% on the year measured in available seat kilometres.

Housebuilders are not performing as well after the Halifax house price index showed that UK house prices have fallen for the first time in three months. The index fell unexpectedly by 1.1% month-on-month in March, reversing the 2.5% rise seen in February. Economists had expected prices to rise by 0.6%.

The listed UK housebuilders are underperforming, with Barratt Developments down 1.2%, Crest Nicholson down 0.7%, and Taylor Wimpey down 0.6%.

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FTSE 100: up 0.4% at 6,675.39
FTSE 250: up 0.3% at 16,394.14
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.04% at 852.67
GBP-USD: down at 1.6585
EUR-USD: down at 1.3707
GOLD: up at USD1,291.60 an ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD106.53 a barrel

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Key UK Corporate News

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FTSE 100: Pennon Group's shares are up after the business plan of its South West Water unit was given 'enhanced' status by the UK water regulator, a key step in getting final clearance for the plan before the regulator sets the prices water companies will be able to charge customers over the five years starting in 2015. The UK's 16 other water companies will now have to submit new or improved evidence as part of their business plans, Ofwat said. Those include Severn Trent and United Utilities. Rolls-Royce Holdings said it has won a GBP11 million deal from Spanish shipyard Gondan to provide components and systems for a wave piercing offshore vessel that will be delivered to Simon Møkster Shipping in Norway. Royal Dutch Shell is facing an investigation by the US Coast Guard into possible breaches of law and safety regulations in connection with a drilling rig which ran aground in the Arctic off Alaska in December 2012. In a statement from the Coast Guard's official report on the grounding of the Kulluk drilling rig, it drew attention to problems with the safety management systems used on the site and noted a range of badly managed events. GlaxoSmithKline is reducing its employees in China, the Wall Street Journal reported citing a person familiar with the matter. Royal Bank of Scotland Group has appointed a new finance chief as it moves to replace Nathan Bostock, who resigned in December fewer than three months since joining the bailed-out bank in order to join Santander UK. Tesco Finance Director Laurie McIlwee is set to resign as early as next week, a move that will leave Chief Executive Philip Clarke as the only executive director on the company's board and under increasing pressure to improve performance, the Financial Times reports.

FTSE 250: Capital & Counties Properties said that the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham have both approved the detailed design proposals for Earls Court Village, part of its planned redevelopment of the Earls Court area in London. Interdealer broker ICAP said electronic broking volumes increased by 2.6% year-on-year and 8.8% month-on-month in March. Workspace Group has sold the residential portion of the second phase of its Bow Enterprise Park in east London to Peabody Enterprises for GBP11 million in cash. Telecom Plus said it is confident of reporting full-year profits in line with consensus market expectations, boosted by a strong fourth-quarter. Evraz has sold its subsidiary Evraz Vitkovice Steel to a group of private investors for USD89 million. Kentz Corporation said that Chief Financial Officer Ed Power will step down on May 29 after reaching retirement age, and will be succeeded by former John Wood Group finance executive Meg Lassarat at that time.

AIM: Tandem Group is a big gainer after the company reported significantly lower annual pretax profit due to restructuring costs and a change in the fair value of its foreign currency derivatives contracts, but its Chairman Mervyn Keene said the bicycle maker's second-half recovery has carried on into the new financial year. Kromek Group is up after it signed a long-term contract with an established manufacturer of x-ray diagnostics and analysis equipment in China, giving the Chinese firm preferential rights for the supply of Kromek's CZT-based detection modules in the country. Emmit is also trading higher after the company said Ximax Environmental Solutions, a company in which it took a 20% interest in March, had received an order for its Xziox product from a Dubai governmental body worth about GBP100,000. Frontera Resources Corporation is doing well after it said it has begun gas production at its Mtsare Khevi Gas complex in Georgia. IPSA Group is another gainer after it said it has commissioned additional capacity at its Newcastle plant, leaving it well placed to bid in the upcoming independent power producer programme in South Africa and return to growth. Forte Energy is a big faller after it said it will buy the uranium assets of European Uranium Resources Ltd for roughly CAD8.5 million in shares and cash.

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Top Economics And General

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UK house prices declined for the first time in three months, a report published by Lloyds Banking Group showed. The Halifax house price index fell unexpectedly by 1.1% month-on-month, reversing the 2.5% rise seen in February. Prices were expected to increase 0.6%. Prices in the three months to March were 8.7% higher than in the same three months a year earlier, data showed.
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UK car sales increased notably to 464,824 in March, accounting for almost a fifth of full-year registrations, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said. The March new car market was just 2,130 units short of the record 2004 total. Sales were up 17.7% year-on-year in March and the year-to-date registrations advanced 13.7% to 688,122 units.
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Germany's construction activity expanded at a slower pace in March as order intakes fell at the fastest rate in 12 months, data from Markit Economics showed. The seasonally adjusted Purchasing Managers' Index fell 52.5 in March from 53.6 in February. Total industry activity has now risen for 11 months in succession and companies partly attributed this to exceptionally mild weather. The latest rise in activity was broad-based, with housing, commercial and civil engineering activity all rising.
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The International Monetary Fund said the slowdown in China's economic growth will reduce trend growth on emerging market economies. "China's transition into a slower, if more sustainable, pace of growth will also reduce growth in many other emerging market economies, at least temporarily," the lender said in the analytical chapter for its World Economic Outlook.
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The international search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 moved underwater Friday, the search coordinator announced. An Australian navy ship and a British navy ship are engaged in a joint underwater search operation towing sensitive sonic detectors listening for the signal of the plane's black box. The battery on the black box is expected to expire some time after April 7, but could last until the middle of April. Two submarines were now also engaged in the search.
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The number of Syrians registered as refugees in Lebanon has passed 1 million, giving the country the highest per-capita concentration of refugees worldwide, the UN refugee agency said on Thursday. "The influx of a million refugees would be massive in any country. For Lebanon, a small nation beset by internal difficulties, the impact is staggering," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said.
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European Central Bank President Mario Draghi on Thursday vowed swift action against risks of a prolonged period of low inflation in the euro area and downside risks to the region's growth. "We will monitor developments very closely and will consider all instruments available to us," Draghi said in his introductory statement in the customary post-meeting press conference in Frankfurt. "We are resolute in our determination to maintain a high degree of monetary accommodation and to act swiftly if required." The central bank left the main refi rate unchanged at a record low 0.25% for a fifth month running.
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Afternoon Watchlist (all times British Summer Time)

13:30 US Nonfarm Payrolls
13:30 US Average Hourly Earnings
13:30 US Average Weekly Hours
13:30 US Unemployment Rate

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Monday's Key UK Corporate Events

Good Energy Group Full Year Results
Robert Walters Interim Management Statement
Cranswick Trading Statement
Waterlogic Full Year Results
Synety Group Trading Statement

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Monday's Key Economic Events (all times British Summer Time)

07:00 Germany Industrial Production
20:00 US Consumer Credit Change

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By Alice Attwood; aliceattwood@alliancenews.com; @AliceAtAlliance

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