Stansted owner Manchester Airport Group calls for further rail investment in south east December 9, 2014 The airport group which owns Stansted has called on the government to increase investment in rail infrastructure in the south east. Neil Thompson, chief financial officer at Manchester Airport Group, made the comments yesterday as the company reported its results for the first half of the 2014 financial year. The firm posted an eight [...]
Ryanair says being nicer has lifted earnings December 4, 2014 IRISH budget airline Ryanair yesterday raised its full-year profit forecast, following a 22 per cent jump in passenger numbers to 6.35m people in the year to November. The airline said it now expected profits to be between €810m and €830m (£636m-£652m), partly due to better customer service. Just last month, Ryanair had raised its profit [...]
Ryanair just revised up its 2015 profit forecast by €60m December 4, 2014 Ryanair’s share price soared more than eight per cent this morning as it revised its full-year profit forecast upwards by €60m (£47m). The budget airline said customer numbers increased in November, which it credited to its "Always Getting Better" campaign and it now expects more than 1m additional passenger numbers over the year. The firm [...]
Barry Geraghty in line for Haydock payday November 20, 2014 Bill Esdaile’s tips for the Betfair Chase and the rest of tomorrow’s racing at Haydock LAST year’s first three home in the Betfair Chase (3.50pm Haydock) are set to line up tomorrow in this season’s renewal and bookmakers are struggling to separate them. Cue Card, who took Haydock’s biggest jumping prize 12 months ago, heads [...]
CEO Carolyn McCall scoffs at easyJet being labelled as lazy November 18, 2014 A couple of weeks ago, somebody called easyJet lazy. This wasn’t an angry passenger or a disgruntled shareholder, but the chief executive of Hungarian budget carrier Wizz Air, Jozsef Varadi. “Lazy low-cost airlines” will be undercut by ultra-low-cost brands like Wizz and Ryanair in Europe, he told punters at the World Travel Market conference at [...]
EasyJet’s profits soar to new heights as passenger numbers rise November 18, 2014 Budget airline easyJet yesterday shrugged off concerns about an increasingly crowded low-cost airline market by announcing a 21.5 per cent rise in pre-tax profit to £581m. The no-frills carrier, which upgraded its profit forecast last month following strong sales, also announced it will increase its ordinary dividend per share by 35.5 per cent to 45.4p [...]
Blue skies ahead for EasyJet? Profits rise 21.5 per cent November 18, 2014 EasyJet reported a 21 per cent lift in pre-tax profit for the full year, slightly ahead of its own market guidance. Profit before tax came in at £581m for the 12 months ended 30 September. The airline added it predicts more growth for the first six months of 2015. The profits are the highest reported [...]
Virgin Galactic crash: Has Virgin lost its innocence? November 7, 2014 To this day, my mother laments the moment I discovered girls. Before then, she forgave me nearly anything. A broad smile, cheeky shrug of the shoulders, and hey presto – I was out of trouble. She could overlook my many antics with an easy smile and a clear conscience. Kids will be kids. But [...]
Being nice pays off for Ryanair as profit soars by 32 per cent November 3, 2014 Budget airline Ryanair is finding that being nice really does pay off, after it revealed its half-year net profit rose a whopping 32 per cent to €795m (£621.6m) The company embarked on a customer service overhaul about a year ago, when chief executive Michael O’Leary vowed to stop “unnecessarily pissing people off”. Since then the [...]
FTSE dragged down by HSBC and utilities – London Report November 3, 2014 BRITAIN’S top equity index broke a four-day rise yesterday as a drop in major utility stocks and in global banking group HSBC dragged the UK stock market lower. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed down by 0.9 per cent at 6,487.97 points. Last week, it had extended a rebound off 15-month lows reached in October. [...]