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(Alliance News) - Irish budget airline Ryanair Holdings on Wednesday reported practically no passenger traffic in May amid travel restrictions to combat Covid-19, saying it expects little to change in June.
Ryanair said traffic in May dropped by 99.5% to just 70,000 passengers versus the 14.1 million passengers it carried a year earlier, as Covid-19 airspace closures continued to ground aircraft.
Ryanair said it operated just 701 scheduled flights in May, including a number of rescue and medical flights on behalf of various EU governments, versus its budgeted schedule of 70,000 flights.
Going forward, Ryanair said it expects minimal traffic in June, due to multiple EU government flight bans and restrictions.
On a rolling annual basis to May, the company said it carried 121.0 million passengers, down 17% from 145.8 million a year prior.
Ryanair shares were trading marginally higher in London early on Wednesday at EUR12.04 each.
Here is what you need to know at the market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.9% at 6,273.27
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Hang Seng: up 1.2% at 24,286.20
Nikkei 225: closed up 1.3% at 22,613.76
DJIA: closed up 267.63 points, 1.1%, at 25,742.65
S&P 500: closed up 0.8% at 3,080.82
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GBP: up at USD1.2594 (USD1.2535)
EUR: unchanged at USD1.1212 (USD1.1210)
Gold: down at USD1,723.82 per ounce (USD1,738.21)
Oil (Brent): up at USD40.38 a barrel (USD39.20)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Wednesday's Key Economic Events still to come
0930 BST UK CIPS-Markit services purchasing managers' index
1100 BST Ireland monthly unemployment
0955 CEST Germany unemployment
0955 CEST Germany services PMI
1000 CEST EU eurozone Services PMI
1100 CEST EU unemployment
1100 CEST EU producer price index
0700 EDT US MBA weekly mortgage applications survey
0815 EDT US ADP national employment report
0945 EDT US services PMI
1030 EDT US EIA weekly petroleum status report
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UK shop prices suffered another notable decline in May, with non-essential retail again experiencing a bruising month due to high levels of promotional activity. The British Retail Consortium-Nielsen shop price index showed a 2.4% annual fall in May, worse than the 1.7% slip recorded in April. The May decline was the fastest since the index began in December 2006 and it also towered above the 12-month average decrease of 0.7% and the six-month average fall of 1.0%. Food inflation eased to 1.5% in May, down from 1.8% in April, BRC noted, though in-line with the six month and 12-month averages. Non-food retailers had a tough month however, shop prices slumped by 4.6% year-on-year in May, after a 3.7% fall in April.
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UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to face Keir Starmer at Prime Minister's Questions for the first time since news emerged of the controversial lockdown trip made by Dominic Cummings, PA reports. All eyes will be on the House of Commons at midday to see how the prime minister performs opposite the Labour leader, with Johnson likely to be grilled over his support for his senior adviser over his decision to take his family 260 miles away to Durham in March to self-isolate. The leaders will come face to face on the day the UK coronavirus death toll could reach 50,000, having passed 49,800 on Tuesday. Meanwhile, new quarantine restrictions on travellers arriving in the UK will be set out by Home Secretary Priti Patel on Wednesday, including requiring the majority of visitors to Britain to self-isolate for 14 days.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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JEFFERIES CUTS B&M EUROPEAN VALUE RETAIL TO 'HOLD' ('BUY') - TARGET 410 PENCE
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JEFFERIES RAISES MARKS & SPENCER TO 'BUY' ('HOLD') - TARGET 160 (230) PENCE
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JPMORGAN CUTS IBSTOCK TO 'NEUTRAL' ('OVERWEIGHT') - TARGET 200 PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Eastern Europe-focused Wizz Air reported record underlying profit of EUR344.8 million for the financial year to the end of March, up 30% on the prior year. Pretax profit also jumped, to EUR294.1 million from EUR128.9 million. The Budapest, Hungary-based company said it carried 40.0 million passengers in the recent financial year, a 16% increase from 34.6 million the year before. Revenue grew 19% to EUR2.76 billion. Ticket revenue per passenger fell by 4.6% to EUR37.7, Wizz Air noted, but it said ancillary revenue per passenger increased by 14% to EUR31.3 per passenger. The company said it expanded its fleet by 9 aircraft during the year to 121 aircraft, with over 47% of seats now served by the more cost-effective A321 type aircraft. The current average aircraft age of Wizz Air is 5.4 years. "We have taken various initiatives during the Covid-19 pandemic to safeguard the company's cost position and excellent balance sheet with EUR1.5 billion of cash, one of the strongest in the airline industry," said Chief Executive Jozsef Varadi.
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SSP Group - which operates catering and retail units at airports - reported a 3.7% fall in revenue to GBP1.22 billion in the six months to the end of March. On a constant currency basis, revenue declined by 2.7%. SSP said like-for-like sales were down 8.4%, heavily hurt by Covid-19 and the closure of most of the global travel markets during March. As a result, the company said it swung to a pretax loss of GBP34.3 million compared with a GBP51.4 million profit a year prior. SSP declared no interim 2020 dividend and suspended its share buyback programme. "Covid-19 has had an unprecedented impact on the travel sector. Our response has been to take quick and decisive action to protect our people and our business, whilst around the world our colleagues have helped and supported their local communities," explained Chief Executive Simon Smith. In addition, SSP said it intends to conduct a non‑pre‑emptive placing of new shares to allow shareholders entitled to the 2019 final dividend to re-invest it back in to the company. SSP's final dividend of 6.0 pence per share will be paid on Thursday. Together, the total proceeds from the fundraising will not exceed GBP26.8 million, SSP said, being the total value of the 2019 final dividend. SSP said the share issue will allow it to retain within the company some of the cash due to be paid out.
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Defence technology firm Chemring reported 37% revenue growth in the six months to the end of April to GBP191.0 million, taking pretax profit up to GBP19.0 million from GBP4.3 million a year ago. Chemring increased its interim payout by 8% to 1.3 pence a share. The company said its performance in the first half of its current financial year was ahead of expectations, reflecting strong performance in both segments and some positive timing differences. Chemring reported good progress in securing new business in the UK, US and Australia for the supply of global countermeasures. Looking forward, Chemring said all of its businesses have remained open despite the challenges presented by Covid-19. Its full-year expectations are unchanged, despite the challenging environment, with about 95% of expected second-half revenue in the order book or has been delivered to date.
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COMPANIES - GLOBAL
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International Consolidated Airlines Group-owned Iberia protested Tuesday after the Spanish government pledged to sue 17 airlines for failing to inform travellers about their right to a refund for flights cancelled during the pandemic, AFP reports. A day after the consumer affairs ministry said it would take legal action, the Spanish carrier hit back. "Iberia and Iberia Express inform customers clearly about their rights," it said. Under European law, when a flight is cancelled, passengers must be offered an alternative flight or a refund. The refund may be voucher, but only if the customer consents, the European Commission clarified last month. "Shortcomings in the information provided on customers' rights following the cancellation of flights," led to the legal action, the ministry said. Iberia said it was "bewildered" by the allegations and denounced the "very damaging effects" of such a move on both its reputation and "financial ability to overcome the current paralysis". Companies to be named in the lawsuit are Air Europa, Air France KLM, Binter Canarias, easyJet, Eurowings, Iberia, Jet 2, KLM, Latam Airlines, Deutsche Lufthansa, Ryanair Holdings, Scandinavian Airlines, Transavia, UI AG, United Airlines Holdings, Volotea and Wizzair Holdings.
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Nissan Motor has warned it will not be able to sustain operations at its Sunderland manufacturing plant if Brexit negotiations fail to establish a trade deal. The 7,000 workers of the UK's largest car manufacturing plant rejoiced last week after surviving a global cost-cutting restructuring that saw the closure of the Japanese firm's Barcelona facility. A Nissan spokesman said at the time that "Sunderland (remained) an important part of our plans for the European business." But in an interview with the BBC, Nissan's global chief operating officer Ashwani Gupta warned the company would not be able to stand by its commitment to the Sunderland plant if the UK left the EU without a trade deal that enabled tariff-free EU access.
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Wednesday's Shareholder Meetings
Frenkel Topping Group
Everyman Media Group
Gamesys
Hurricane Energy
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings
Gem Diamonds
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
