Airline shares soared as Easyjet looked to another summer of record profits, despite a £40m hit from the conflict in the Middle East.
A post-pandemic boom has helped it cut first-half losses by £50m, but it still lost between £340m and £360m in the six months to the end of March.
Easyjet took a £40m hit from canceled flights to Israel and Jordan after the Hamas terror attacks, but chief executive Johan Lundgren said business was ahead of last year.
The group posted a record profit of £866 million for the six months to the end of September 2023.
“We face the summer with confidence that we can achieve another record performance,” he said.
Turbulence: A post-pandemic boom has helped Easyjet cut first-half losses by £50m, but it lost between £340m and £360m in the six months to the end of March.
Easyjet shares rose 2.3 per cent, or 11.8 pence, to 530 pence, while British Airways owner IAG rose 5.7 per cent, or 9.1 pence, to 169.8 pence and Wizz Air rose 6.6 per cent, or 131 pence, to 2,118 pence.
The FTSE 100 rose 0.4 per cent, or 29.06 points, to 7,877.05 and the FTSE 250 rose 0.6 per cent, or 110.53 points, to 19,450.67.
Rentokil Initial, which won contracts at Buckingham Palace in the 1960s earning a reputation as the “royal rat catcher”, said sales in North America rose 1.5 percent to £761 million in the first three months of this year, less than 2 percent growth. had foreseen. The shares fell 7.6 per cent, or 34 pence, to 412.9 pence.
AJ Bell said it now has more than half a million customers after adding 19,000 in the second quarter to the end of March, and assets under management rose 5 per cent to a record £80.3bn. It rose 1.7 per cent, or 5p, to 300p.
Gold miner Centamin sank 1.2 percent, or 1.6 pence, to 128.1 pence after maintenance projects resulted in production and sales in the first three months of the year being down. below the same period in 2023.
Stock Watch – Classification Group
The owner of Mecca Bingo got a boost on Mother’s Day and over Easter as he shakes off post-pandemic woes.
Rank Group, which also owns the Grosvenor casino chain, said net gaming revenue in the three months to the end of March was 6 per cent higher than a year earlier, at £182.3 million. .
Sales at Mecca venues rose 12 per cent, while Grosvenor Casinos saw a 3 per cent increase.
Shares were steady at 71p.
Ukrainian miner Ferrexpo said it is producing more iron ore than at any time since the Russian invasion, lifting the shares 0.8 percent, or 0.35 pence, to 46.6 pence.
Australian miner BHP – down 1.7 per cent, or 40 pence, to 2,325 pence – expects to produce less coking coal than originally planned this year after two cyclones hit its output.
Sales at Dunelm rose 3 per cent to £435 million in the third quarter, but the home goods retailer warned the outlook for UK consumers remained challenging. The shares sank 7.3 per cent, or 78.5p, to 995.5p.
Deliveroo said food orders rose 2 per cent to £73.5m in the first three months of 2024, and gained 4.5 per cent, or 5.4p, to 126.6p.
Pod Point, a provider of electric vehicle charging points, raised its sales forecast for its flexible energy business after revenue exceeded expectations in 2023. The unit helps companies reduce purchases of short-term electricity supplies term at higher prices. The shares rose 1.3 per cent, or 0.3p, to 23.15p.
Volex, which makes power cables and charging plugs for electric cars, said annual sales rose thanks to contributions from a wire harness maker it bought last June. It charged 5.2 per cent, or 15p, to 303p.
And LBG Media, a global digital entertainment company, saw its revenue rise 7.5 per cent to £67.5m last year. The shares soared 5.2 per cent, or 3.5p, to 71p.