10th Jan 2020 07:57
(Alliance News) - Budget airline Ryanair said Friday that trading was stronger than expected over the festive period, and as a result it has raised its annual profit guidance.
For its financial year ending March, the Irish carrier sees post-tax profit between EUR950 million to EUR1.05 billion, having previously guided for EUR800 million to EUR900 million. In financial 2019, Ryanair reported profit after tax of EUR885.0 million.
In an unscheduled update, Ryanair said trading was boosted by better-than-expected close-in bookings over Christmas and New Year, while forward bookings to April are 1% higher year-on-year which will lead to higher-than-expected fares.
One downside for Ryanair is Laudamotion. The recently purchased Austrian airline is underperforming due to lower-than-expected fares over the festive period. Fares are being hurt by intense competition in both Germany and Austria, Ryanair said.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
----------
MARKETS
----------
FTSE 100: called up 31.5 points at 7,629.62
----------
Hang Seng: up 0.1% at 28,596.42
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.5% at 23,850.57
DJIA: closed up 211.81 points, 0.7%, at 28,956.90
S&P 500: closed up 0.7% at 3,274.70
----------
GBP: firm at USD1.3060 (USD1.3045)
EUR: flat at USD1.1106 (USD1.1100)
Gold: up at USD1,550.65 per ounce (USD1,547.10)
Oil (Brent): firm at USD65.40 a barrel (USD65.15)
(changes since previous London equities close)
----------
ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
----------
Friday's Key Economic Events still to come
0830 EST US December non-farm payrolls, unemployment rate
1000 EST US monthly wholesale trade
----------
It is "highly likely" that Iran shot down the civilian Ukrainian jetliner that crashed near Tehran, killing all 176 people on board, US, Canadian and British officials have said. They said the fiery missile strike could well have been a mistake amid rocket launches and high tension throughout the region. The crash on Wednesday morning came just a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic attack against Iraqi military bases housing US troops in its violent confrontation with Washington over the drone strike that killed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general. The airliner could have been mistaken for a threat, said four US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose country lost at least 63 citizens in the downing, said in Ottawa: "We have intelligence from multiple sources including our allies and our own intelligence. The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile." Likewise, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison offered similar statements.Morrison also said it appeared to be a mistake. "All of the intelligence as presented to us today does not suggest an intentional act," he said.
----------
BROKER RATING CHANGES
----------
BERENBERG RAISES POLYMETAL INTERNATIONAL TO 'BUY' ('HOLD') - TARGET 1480 (1140) PENCE
----------
MORGAN STANLEY CUTS SPECTRIS TO 'UNDERWEIGHT' ('EQUAL-WEIGHT')
----------
JEFFERIES CUTS DIPLOMA TO 'HOLD' ('BUY') - TARGET 1800 PENCE
----------
COMPANIES - FTSE 100
----------
Paper and packaging firm Mondi said Chief Executive Peter Oswald is to leave the company at the end of March. He originally joined Mondi in 1992, and has been CEO since early 2017. Mondi has appointed Chief Financial Officer Andrew King as interim CEO whilst a replacement for Oswald is found, the company added.
----------
Sportswear retailer JD Sports Fashion reiterated full-year guidance and reported "positive like-for-like trends" over the pivotal Christmas trading period, despite the UK retail market facing tricky conditions. The company said full-year headline pretax profit, after removing the impact of IFRS 16, will fall in the "upper quartile" of market consensus range of GBP403 million and GBP433 million. This could represent a annual jump of as much as 27% from last year's pretax profit of GBP339.9 million. IFRS 16 governs the financial treatment of leases. JD Sports said: "Against a backdrop of widely reported retail challenges in the group's core UK market, it is encouraging to report positive like-for-like trends in the group's global sports fashion fascias, particularly overseas."
----------
British Land had its application for an 18-storey building in the Paddington area of London rejected by Westminster City Council, the Times newspaper reported on Thursday. The property developer bought the 11-acre Paddington plot in 2013 intending to build an 18-storey "terracota" office block. However, the council rejected its plans over concerns that the building would be too high, affect views, block sunlight and look out of place, according to the newspaper. British Land told the Times that it is "disappointed" with the council's decision and will review its options.
----------
COMPANIES - FTSE 250
----------
Discount retailer B&M European Value Retail reported 9.3% revenue growth excluding currency movements for the 13 weeks to December 28. In the UK, revenue growth was 8.8%, and the like-for-like growth figure was 0.3%. This came against a backdrop of poor retail conditions and a decision not to carry out any early discounting, B&M said. Heron Foods is doing well, the company continued, with like-for-like sales growth solid. B&M is making progress at French subsidiary Babou, it added. However Jawoll, B&M's German business, reported a 1.5% fall in revenue for the quarter at constant currency. A review of the unit's future, announced November, is ongoing.
----------
Woodside Petroleum said the first phase of the Sangomar field development has been approved by the Rufisque Offshore, Sangomar Offshore & Sangomar Deep Offshore joint venture. Woodside, as operator of the RSSD joint venture, has executed the purchase contract for the floating production storage and offloading facility and issued full notices to proceed for the drilling and subsea construction and installation contracts. Following the grant of exploitation authorisation by the government of Senegal on Wednesday, the RSSD joint venture has received the relevant regulatory approvals to proceed. Phase 1 of the development will target an estimated 231 million barrels of oil resources from the lower, less complex reservoirs, and an initial pilot phase in the upper reservoirs. The RSSD joint venture comprises Woodside Energy (Senegal), Capricorn Senegal - a subsidiary of Cairn Energy - Far Ltd and Petrosen, the Senegal national oil company.
----------
COMPANIES - OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM
----------
Fashion retailer Superdry said trading has not been as strong as expected in the period between October 27 and January 4, despite a strong Black Friday. Superdry said there has been "unprecedented" promotional activity as well as subdued consumer demand post-Christmas. "These factors, combined with shortages of some better-selling product, driven by the need to reduce our inherited inventory position, adversely impacted our sales during peak trading," Superdry added. Retail sales have missed expectations by GBP23 million, the company continued, while wholesale operations have suffered a GBP5 million shortfall due to timing issues. As a result, Superdry now sees underlying pretax profit for its year ending April between zero and GBP10 million.
----------
The UK government has told the Daily Mail's owner that it is "minded to" intervene in its GBP50 million deal to buy the i newspaper, the PA news agency reported Thursday. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport said it has written to Daily Mail & General Trust amid public interest concerns over the deal. In November, DMGT announced the acquisition of the daily newspaper from rival JPI Media. Last month, the competition watchdog launched an investigation into the deal to probe any potential regulatory issues. On Thursday, Nigel Evans, minister for sport, media & creative industries, said the government was likely to intervene but had "not taken a final decision".
----------
COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
----------
Boeing said it regrets the content of communications provided to US Congress and the Federal Aviation Administration about the grounded 737 MAX jet. The New York Times on Thursday reported that, in the communications, employees mocked federal rules and joked about potential flaws in the 737 MAX. In one set of messages, an employee, talking in 2017 about the MAX, said it had been designed by "clowns". The MAX has been grounded since mid-March following the second of the two fatal crashes that together claimed 346 lives. The NYT said one employee, in an exchange in 2018, before the first crash, said to another colleague: "Would you put your family on a Max simulator trained aircraft? I wouldn't."
----------
BlackRock has joined Climate Action 100+, the climate action pressure group said. BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager with USD6.8 trillion assets under management, including stakes in oil majors such as BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil. Climate Action said: "BlackRock joins more than 370 global investors already participating in the initiative. The addition of funds it manages, brings total assets under management represented by investors participating in Climate Action 100+ to more than USD41 trillion." Signing up to the group means Blackrock must "take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions", Climate Action said.
----------
Friday's Shareholder Meetings
Plutus PowerGen (re director removals & appointments)
TechFinancials (re AIM delisting)
Ironveld
----------
By Tom Waite; [email protected]
Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
RYA.LDiplomaSpectrisPOLY.L