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By Julien Ponthus
LONDON, June 2 (Reuters) - EasyJet and cruise
operator Carnival are set to lose their seat at the top
table of British blue chips after the COVID-19 crisis knocked
the value of their shares to below the threshold of London's
prestigious FTSE 100 index.
Hard-hit by travel bans, the low-cost airline lost as much
as two thirds of its market value during the peak of the
pandemic crisis and despite a vigorous bounce-back, its market
capitalisation was only ranked 125th based on Monday's stock
market close in London.
FTSE Russell, which will announce its quarterly shuffle of
the FTSE 100 index on Wednesday, requires companies to be ranked
at least 110th to be part of the blue-chip index.
EasyJet, which plans to cut up to 4,500 jobs and shrink its
fleet, had returned to the FTSE 100 only last December after a
fall in its shares had triggered an exile from the index.
"EasyJet would need a big rally, but it could come back in
September," at the occasion of the next reshuffle, said Russ
Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
"With airlines, anything is possible", he added, referring
to the extreme market volatility experienced by these companies.
Europe's Travel and Leisure index lost up to 58% of
its value in less than a month in mid-March before rallying more
than 60% since. The recovery was not enough for Carnival to
retain its FTSE 100 crown.
The last reshuffle in March had already exposed the pain in
the tourism industry with the exit of European holiday company
TUI.
British Airways owner IAG and InterContinental
Hotels Group will continue to fly the travel industry
flag within the FTSE 100 after the reshuffle while Premier Inn
owner Whitbread is close to the departure gate.
Among the other companies expected to be dropped from the
index are Britain's largest energy supplier Centrica and
engineering company Meggitt.
Companies which could enter the index include cybersecurity
firm Avast and Ladbrokes and bwin owner GVC,
which many investors thought would suffer greatly from the
crisis with so many sporting events cancelled.
"Unlike some other operators GVC has multiple strings to its
bow, and its online casino business has seen a modest rise in
activity", Nicholas Hyett, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown
wrote in a note to clients.
(Reporting by Julien Ponthus, additional reporting by
Thyagaraju Adinarayan. Editing by Jane Merriman)
