EasyJet cruises above turbulence but shares tumble five per cent
EASYJET shares continued to slide yesterday after the company forecast annual profits for the year to 30 September would be between £545m to £570m, 14 to 19 per cent higher than last year, but slightly below a range of analysts’ forecasts.
The budget airline said its third quarter revenues to 30 June had increased by 8.6 per cent to hit £1.2bn, as passenger numbers increased 9.4 per cent to 17.9m in total.
There was also a rise in capacity of 16 per cent at Gatwick after easyJet acquired slots from Flybe.
However, easyJet shares fell by nearly five per cent yesterday to finish on 1,330p, continuing a decline that has seen its share price fall by around 20 per cent since the start of April.
Robin Byde, analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald told City PM that while the third quarter trading statement was broadly positive, cost headwinds in the second half of the year, and a view that the business had matured with greater challenges to growth in target markets, might have had an impact on the share price.