Low cost airline easyJet found its shares pushed to the bottom of the FTSE-100 this morning as the market digested the impact of cancellations in the wake of the Microsoft/Crowdstrike failure from Friday, along with read-across off the back of a sharp fall in profits at peer Ryanair. The Irish carrier saw rising costs and the early Easter break taking a toll on their performance and added that pricing over the summer was likely to remain soft. The post-COVID spell of revenge travel appears to have burnt out, with the easyJet share price down by more than 6% in early trade. Other UK listed airlines including Wizz Air and IAG have also been impacted.
Real estate developer Hammerson announced this morning that it was disposing of its stake in Value Retail for an enterprise valuation of £1.5bn, realising £600m in cash proceeds, around a quarter of which will be returned to shareholders. The rationale is that higher yielding investments are available and the company can focus on a core portfolio but most critically the capital return equates to around 10% of Friday’s closing market cap. The Hammerson share price added around 9% in early trade before retreating, with gains closer to 5% an hour into the day.
Retail and technology play Ocado provided an update this morning on its partnership with US grocer Kroger. The customer has placed an order for a wide range of new automated technologies to be deployed across its customer fulfilment centres, delivering a step change in warehouse automation. There’s no detail regarding contract sizes but markets have been quick to cheer the success here. Ocado shares are up 7% just after 9am.
Headlines we expect tomorrow
Compass Group Trading Update
This time last year Q3 Revenue Growth +15%, YTD Client Retention 96.7%
Mitie Group Trading Update
This time last year Q1 Revenue Growth +11.4%, Q1 Contract Wins £1.1bn
