George Frangeskides, Chairman at ALBA, explains why the Pilbara Lithium option ‘was too good to miss’. Watch the video here.
French President Emmanuel Macron is set to meet Vladimir Putin in Moscow this afternoon in an attempt to calm tensions on the Ukrainian border.
At the same time, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is in Washington to meet US President Joe Biden as talks take place on both sides of the Atlantic to try to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
IAG Cargo is the single business created following the merger of British Airways World Cargo and Iberia Cargo in April 2011. ?In 2020 IAG Cargo had a commercial revenue of €1,306 million
-Flights between Madrid and Colombia rise to 17 services per week and customers can book freight between Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires
-IAG Cargo now operates over 250 flights per week between Latin America, Europe and the UK
-News follows a strong performance for IAG Cargo in Latin America in 2021, reflecting strong growth of trade between the region and Europe
IAG Cargo has particularly increased services to Colombia, with 14 flights per week now operating between Madrid and Bogota (up on the previous 10), while the three flights per week schedule into Cali is maintained. It has also increased services between Madrid-Buenos Aires from 8 to 10 flights per week, and services between London-Heathrow and Mexico City increase to 7 per week (up from the previous 5). IAG Cargo’s new service between Sao Paolo and Buenos Aires, will enable the flow of goods between the two cities, and the opportunity to fly freight across its network onto busy transatlantic trade lanes. All services utilise the Group’s wide-body aircraft.
IAG Cargo now offers capacity to nearly every destination in Latin America which it operated pre-pandemic with over 250 weekly services in total and all utilising wide-body aircraft. This service has proved particularly valuable to the automotive and manufacturing industries which utilise air freight between the regions, and to the medical sector. The extra capacity also benefits perishable exporters seeking to transport fresh produce into Europe and the UK, an important period in the run up to Valentine’s Day.
The news of IAG Cargo’s expanded offer in the region follows strong performance in 2021, when a new route from Heathrow to Guayaquil, Ecuador was announced and increased flights to Sao Paolo, Brazil and Mexico City. Regular flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico and from Heathrow to Rio de Janiero were also re-started in 2021.
3 feb
France will begin administering Pfizer's COVID anti-viral drug this week, the first pill for treating the virus approved in the EU.
The country is still reporting some of the world's highest per-capita daily infections, but virus-related hospitalisations are easing and the French government began lifting restrictions on Wednesday.
Masks are no longer required outdoors and large crowds can gather again, while the order to work from home part-time has been lifted.
The country has also received its first 10,000 doses of the Pfizer drug Paxlovid, which will be available in pharmacies starting on Friday.
It will be given to adults with symptoms who don't require oxygen and who are at higher risk of severe disease.
The drug was cleared by regulators in the US and Britain in December.
1h ago
Switzerland appears set to join a number of other European countries in abandoning all coronavirus restrictions.
The nation has dropped its work-from-home order and scrapped the quarantine requirement for COVID contacts, despite infection numbers rising.
"There are increasing signs that the acute crisis will soon be over and the endemic phase could begin," the government said in a statement.
"The moment has come to once again ease measures designed to contain the spread of the coronavirus."
The country joins others including Denmark, the UK, Ireland and Norway in removing all restrictions.
1h ago
Less than an hour after we brought you news that Switzerland was to scrap all coronavirus restrictions, Sweden is expected to announce it is to do the same.
The country will join its Scandinavian neighbours, Denmark and Norway, in removing measures on 9 February, according to Expressen.
30 min ago
Airlines and tour operators are racing to boost staff numbers in the hope receding travel rules will trigger a summer holiday boom.
The UK will remove all travel testing requirements for fully-vaccinated people next Friday.
On Monday, Ryanair's Michael O'Leary was the latest travel boss to predict a strong bounce-back, as people return to going on holiday.
He said that for summer 2022, airline expected to put on 115% of the capacity it had done in 2019.
6 mins ago BBC
Despite a surge in Omicron COVID-19 cases in Denmark, the Scandinavian country will scrap most pandemic restrictions, as officials no longer consider the latest outbreak as "a socially critical disease".
The latest spike in cases is not placing a heavy burden on the health system and the country has a high vaccination rate, officials have said.
Face masks will no longer be mandatory on public transport, shops and inside restaurants, with masks still recommended in hospitals, health care facilities and nursing homes.
Digital COVID-19 passes will no longer be needed for nightclubs and cafes.
Feb 1
Last year sp was between 93p - 105p almost for two months then hit 2.10p within 120 days
That’s almost 125% increase
Sp was 1.25p 50 days ago and hit 1.69p last week
So you guys really think this share can not hit 3.00p this year with endemic?
After 2.00p sp increase will gain momentum , 2.50p + without a doubt within few months
The UK has confirmed another 62,399 daily COVID cases and 85 more deaths, latest government figures show.
It's the lowest number of cases reported since 14 December, when there were 59,610
Cinema operator Cineworld (CINE) was the most shorted stock in October,
Cineworld CINE 8.84 25.47 -43.94
Petropavlosk POG 6.09 -19.76 -50.15
Hammerson HMSO 6.02 7.16 82.20
AO World AO. 5.69 0.47 -67.43
Naked Wines WINE 4.61 -14.13 -30.78
Network International NETW 4.44 -7.80 -24.61
Boohoo.com BOO 4.21 -11.07 -69.40
AlphaWave IP AWE 4.15 -12.18 -54.83
Domino's Pizza DOM 4.13 -14.48 15.84
Currys CURY 4.03 -14.20 -8.48
Just outside the top 10 most shorted stock, some new short positions have been opened up in British Airways owner IAG (IAG) this month, meaning 3.77% of its shares are being shorted.
That’s despite a relaxation of travel rules and a (very) tentative recovery in world tourism. Shares are largely unchanged since the start of the year and are 13% higher on the same period in 2021.
Morningstar analyst Joachim Kotze assigns a fair value to IAG of £3, more than double their current price
28th Jan
Ukraine's President Zelensky urges world leaders to tone down rhetoric on threat of war with Russia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday other world leaders have been overstating the likelihood of war between his country and Russia, causing "panic" and destabilizing Kyiv's economy.
Speaking to foreign reporters Friday, Zelensky said he explained in phone calls to world leaders like US President Joe Biden and France's Emmanuel Macron that, though the threat from the Kremlin is "imminent and constant," Ukrainians have "learned to live" with it since Moscow invaded in 2014.
CNN Headlines right now
Lufthansa Group plans 85% of summer 2019 flight numbers and Air France-KLM plans 95%, according to OAG schedules.
The most vocal advocates of a return to the 80% threshold are Ryanair and Wizz Air.
They also plan the greatest number of flights as a percentage of 2019 levels this summer: Ryanair at 118% and Wizz Air at 141%.
28-Jan-2022
IAG, parent of British Airways and Iberia, have both have been hit hard by pandemic era travel restrictions
But in England, face masks and covid passes are no longer legally required, while work from home guidance has been lifted. With cases falling rapidly, Health Secretary Sajid Javid has announced ‘Omicron is in retreat.’
IG-5 hours ago
Moreover, transatlantic routes to North America have now reopened. And IAG owns the London Heathrow—New York JFK airline route, the most profitable in the world. Based on its most recent results, passenger numbers could rise to pre-pandemic levels during the peak summer season.
Shares in the British Airways owner surged 25% in the space of 10 days in September after the White House confirmed it would lift travel restrictions on the United Kingdom and continental Europe, signaling the return of trans-Atlantic travel from November. But the recovery failed to take hold as the Omicron variant entered the fray. IAG remains 21% below its high of early October.
Deutsche Bank analyst Jaime Rowbotham has a Buy rating on the stock with a target price of 2.20 pounds sterling ($2.96), implying a 49% upside. The company has yet to see the benefit of the reopening of the trans-Atlantic corridor, he says.
Citi analysts, led by Sathish Sivakumar, see the company as “the most solvent and sensible way” of playing the North Atlantic recovery over the next 12 months.
The long-haul sector isn’t the same as it was prepandemic, with Norwegian Air and Thomas Cook both exiting the market since. The pair accounted for 11% of seats in the U.K.-U.S. market in 2019, Sivakumar says, and IAG would be the main beneficiary of their exits.
IAG’s lack of exposure to the corporate travel market—just 13% of group revenue—is another reason to like the stock, the Citi analysts say, particularly as business travel looks set to recover more slowly. Sivakumar also has a target price of £2.20 and a Buy rating.
The company, which also owns Spanish carrier Iberia, Irish airline Aer Lingus, and low-cost airlines Vueling and Level, is expected to post revenue of £15.9 billion for 2022, according to FactSet.
Rowbotham says he expects that outlook for trans-Atlantic travel to “remain broadly intact,” when the company reports fourth quarter earnings on Feb. 25.
When it comes to IAG, though, Liberum analyst Gerald Khoo noted that renewed travel restrictions “have not yet impacted key long-haul routes” and said he remained optimistic that summer 2022 could still offer a more normal travel environment.
He said long-term structural winners have typically seen accelerated gains following periods of industry turmoil. IAG is one such winner “with an efficient cost base and a balance sheet unburdened by state aid.”
As travelers return, IAG’s stock could have a longer runway for gains.
27th Jan -Barrons
One senior executive at a rival European airline noted that Doyle was in the fortunate position of taking over at a time when investments were coming through and the cost base had been reshaped. Doyle has added to that by launching a new subsidiary with lower costs at Gatwick airport.
“Sean wasn’t hired to make fundamental changes,” said another executive with knowledge of the IAG hiring process, noting that Doyle’s vision to focus on service and a premium image was “a cost-effective way to stay relevant”.
He will also have to return BA to its normal position as the main provider of profits at IAG. BA haemorrhaged €3.9bn in 2020, more than half of IAG’s overall €7.4bn loss for the year.
“The profits are the oxygen for the business to do the things it wants to,” Doyle said.
The key question that could define his stewardship will be whether these light touches can help transform BA’s image following years of turbulence.
“Any airline can go out and buy products off the shelf and put them on a plane. It’s actually the confidence and the style and the intimacy that we deliver in service that is going to be a differentiator,” he said.
FT -28th
Sean Doyle aims to fend off low-cost rivals and restore airline as main driver of IAG profits
British Airways boss Sean Doyle pledged on Friday to rebuild relations with customers and staff and restore the airline’s reputation for premium service as the industry recovers from the pandemic.
One of his priorities will be to restore the airline’s brand as a premium offering, which will give passengers a better service than its “no-frills” rivals such as Ryanair and easyJet, while keeping costs down.
“There is room for optimism that we are on the way out” of the pandemic, and that the airline needed to “redefine” its place in the airline world, including a heavy emphasis on service and the passenger experience.
“Putting the premium proposition into the heart of what we do is going to be key,” he told the Financial Times at BA’s headquarters near Heathrow. “We want people to come off a British Airways flight and talk about it as if it’s something different.”
The strategy represents the Irish executive’s first move to stamp his mark on BA and indicates he will not focus on wholesale changes.
Instead, he will prioritize rebuilding the airline’s brand as a premium service in an effort to make it once again the main driver of profits for its Spanish parent International Airlines Group, IAG.
FT-28 Jan