RYANAIR STATEMENT ON AER LING

RNS Number : 1212Y

Ryanair Holdings PLC

27 August 2009

 



RYANAIR STATEMENT ON AER LINGUS RESULTS

IRISH STOCK EXCHANGE AND IRISH TAKEOVER PANEL SHOULD EXPLAIN WHY THEY ALLOWED AER LINGUS TO MISLEAD SHAREHOLDERS AND THE MARKETS IN THEIR DECEMBER 2008 DEFENCE DOCUMENT

Ryanair, Ireland's favourite and largest airline, today (Thursday, 27 August 2009) called on the Irish Stock Exchange and the Irish Takeover Panel to explain why they allowed the Board of Aer Lingus to mislead shareholders and the markets when they published their defence document on 22nd December 2008 - just 8 months ago.  Today's announcement by Aer Lingus of half year operating losses of €93m and the collapse of its net cash balances to €440m exposes the fact that Aer Lingus shareholders and the markets were misled by the Board of Aer Lingus in this Dec'08 Defence Document.  

In Aer Lingus' Defence Document, Chairman, Mr Colm Barrington, made the following false claims to shareholders:

1.    'Despite these extremely challenging conditions, we expect to achieve profit overall in 
       2008 '.
       - Aer Lingus reported an after tax loss of €108m for 2008.

2.    'We expect that significantly reduced fuel prices and a number of management cost 
       reduction initiatives will enable Aer Lingus to continue to enhance profitability in 
       2009 and beyond'.

 - Aer Lingus' H1 2009 losses have risen to €93m and it now refuses to give any guidance on the extent of its substantial losses for 2009.

3.    'Aer Lingus is and will be profitable'
    - 8 months later Aer Lingus has confirmed that it has and will continue to be loss making.

4.    'Our long-haul business also continues to grow'.
    - Aer Lingus' long-haul traffic has declined by 12% in H1 2009.

Ryanair has previously submitted complaints to the Irish Stock Exchange, the Irish Takeover Panel and the Financial Services Regulator about these materially false Aer Lingus claims. To date no action has been taken by any of these regulatory agencies. Ryanair believes that Aer Lingus shareholders are entitled to know why a Ryanair offer of €1.40 per share was rejected by the Board of Aer Lingus just 8 months ago, on the basis of patently false claims about growth and profitability. Shareholders in Irish plc's are entitled to expect that the Irish Regulatory Authorities  (the Stock Exchange, the Takeover Panel and the FSR) will ensure that plc's like Aer Lingus  make accurate claims about growth and profitability, particularly during takeovers. 

Ryanair calls on the Irish Stock Exchange and the Takeover Panel to explain why they failed to take any action about these patently false claims during the 7 months since this takeover was withdrawn.

Speaking today, Ryanair's Michael O'Leary said:

'Today's results from Aer Lingus prove conclusively that Chairman, Mr Colm Barrington, and the Board of Aer Lingus misled shareholders and the Stock Exchange in their Dec'08 Defence Document published just 8 months ago.

'I believe Aer Lingus' shareholders, who have now suffered further catastrophic losses, as the Aer Lingus share price has collapsed from over €1.40 to less than €0.50 are entitled to an explanation from the Irish Stock Exchange and the Irish Takeover Panel as to what action they have taken about these false Aer Lingus claims and why the regulatory authorities of Ireland were asleep on the job, while the Board of Aer Lingus was misleading shareholders and the markets in December 2008.

'Is it any wonder that the reputation of the Irish Stock Exchange has suffered in recent months, when the regulatory authorities are so clearly unfit for purpose and unwilling to implement their own rules on truthfulness and accuracy on company announcements during contested takeovers'.

Ends.                                                       Thursday, 27th August 2009

For further information

please contact:                                     Stephen McNamara                       Pauline McAlester

                                                              Ryanair Ltd                                    Murray Consultants

                                                              Tel: [phone]                      Tel. [phone]

 

END

 

 

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