Aer Lingus swings to profit and vows to retain its independence August 24, 2010 IRISH airline Aer Lingus swung to profit in the second quarter after cost cuts more than offset the revenue hit from a volcanic ash cloud, and vowed to defend its independence by cutting costs further into next year. Aer Lingus has cut unprofitable US routes, reduced staff and fuel costs to survive in Ryanair’s shadow [...]
EasyJet boosts its traffic in July as it flies more than five million passengers August 5, 2010 LOW-COST airline easyJet, which is in dispute with founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, said yesterday it flew 7.7 per cent more passengers last month than the previous year. During July, one of the busiest months for air travel, easyJet carried 5.02m passengers, an increase from the same period last year when it flew 4.66m customers. EasyJet [...]
GOODHART: IF I WERE ON TODAY’S MPC, I’D WANT TO BE PUT TO SLEEP August 3, 2010 ATTENDEES at the London School of Economics’ (LSE) monetary policy conference yesterday morning were treated to an A-list talking heads line-up, with former members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) Sir John Gieve and Charles Goodhart joining Fitch Ratings’ Brian Coulton to discuss interest rates. Unfortunately, the audience was not about to flatter its illustrious [...]
Eurostar sees ash cloud help lift revenues July 22, 2010 ICELAND’S volcano Eyjafjallajokull significantly bolstered Eurostar’s business after the high-speed European train operator carried 100,000 more passengers during the first half of the year pushing revenue up by 18 per cent. Additional passengers looking to avoid air travel during the last six months boosted Eurostar’s revenue to £404m. Eurostar saw passenger numbers climb six per [...]
Aer Lingus hopes to break even in 2010 July 22, 2010 IRISH airline Aer Lingus said it expected to at least break even in 2010, after first-half trading was boosted by strong revenues and lower fuel and staff costs. The former state carrier, which has been cutting costs to survive competition from former suitor and shareholder Ryanair, said trading in June was stronger than expected. “Recent [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 21, 2010 GOLDMAN SACHS JP Morgan Cazenove rates Goldman Sachs as “overweight” despite disappointing second quarter results. JP Morgan said that it has lowered its earnings per share predictions for Goldman, but believes the bank still maintains a strong position in its peer group, and that its potential for restructuring could help offset any negative impact. GOLDMAN [...]
Ryanair to stick with profit target July 20, 2010 Irish airline Ryanair kept its full-year profit forecast yesterday which analysts said it looked to outperform comfortably after first-quarter earnings beat expectations and fares rose. Europe’s biggest low-cost carrier said net profit for the three months to the end of June fell 24 per cent on disruption caused by a volcanic ash cloud. It maintained [...]
Ryanair profit plunges after ash cloud crisis July 20, 2010 RYANAIR’S first-quarter profit has plunged by 24 per cent because of the volcanic ash cloud which grounded planes across Europe earlier in the year. The airline said the Icelandic ash cloud had caused it to scrap almost 10,000 flights at a cost of €50m. As a result its pre-tax profit was €93.7m (£80m) for three [...]
THE TIPSTER July 19, 2010 EXPECTATIONS are high for Ryanair’s first quarter trading update that will be announced today. Its last update in June showed a 280 per cent jump in pre-tax profits for 2009. Back in June it announced that it expects growth to expand by 11 per cent in 2010. The airline is rarely out of the news [...]
THE TIPSTER July 18, 2010 OIL giant BP has been trading at levels that have been described as an excellent buy opportunity. And with the well-head in the Gulf of Mexico capped, the share price is spurting higher although the company could still be seen as a bid target. Interim results on 27 July will be closely followed as traders [...]