the times | Tuesday April 5 2022 47MarketsBusiness
R
yanair is
flying more
passengers
than before
the
pandemic but its losses
have come in a little
worse than hoped due
to cheap flights and
increased operational
costs as the industry
gears up for the
summer (Robert Lea
writes).
Europe’s busiest
airline said that it
expected losses for its
financial year to the
end of March to comein at between
€350 million and
€400 million. It had
previously guided a
wider range of
expected losses of
between €250 million
and €450 million.
Its stockbroker,
Davy, had pencilled in
losses for the 12
months at €347 million,
although it added that
a significant fall in the
airline’s net debt led it
to conclude that the
airline’s forward
bookings were in a
healthy state.
The Irish carrier,
which is the biggest
operator at Stansted,
the UK’s third largest
airport, said that it
carried 11.2 million
passengers last month,Market speculation that Natwest is
exploring a possible takeover bid for
one of Britain’s biggest private wealth
managers failed to enliven the high
street lender’s shares. Natwest, which
last week said it was buying back
550 million shares from the
government, is mulling over whether
to put in a bid for Tilney Smith &
Williamson. According to Sky News,
Tilney could be snapped up for more
than £2.5 billion, with Natwest among
a number of banks exploring bids. Yet
Natwest’s shares slid 2¾p, or 1.2 per
cent, to 215¼p.
Shares in Belvoir, the estate agency
group, rose 13p, or 5.1 per cent, to 268p
after posting a 39 per cent rise in
profit last year, marking its 25th
consecutive year of profit growth.
XLMedia shares, however, suffered
their sharpest daily fall in over a year
after the affiliate marketing company
announced that Stuart Simms, chief
executive since October 2019, would
be stepping down. It led the shares to
tumble 6¼p, or 15.3 per cent, to 34¼p.BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGESGold miner glitters after
news of processing plant
Jessica Newman Market report
I
nvestors rushed to buy shares in
Endeavour Mining yesterday
after the West Africa-focused
gold miner said it was planning
to begin construction of its
Sabodala-Massawa site in Senegal.
The FTSE 100 miner hopes
construction of a processing plant will
begin in the second quarter of this
year, with the first gold-pour
anticipated in early 2024. Endeavour
shot to prominence in Britain a few
years ago when it approached
Centamin about a possible £1.5 billion
takeover. About 373,000 ounces of
gold is expected to be produced
annually over the next five years,
costing roughly $745 an ounce.
“We believe we are well positioned
to unlock the full value of the
Sabodala-Massawa complex as wehave significantly de-risked the
project,” Sébastien de Montessus,
Endeavour Mining’s chief executive
said. The shares, which jumped 8 per
cent on the update in early dealings,
closed up 45p, or 2.4 per cent higher,
to £19.61.
It was a positive, if not cautious start
to the week as the FTSE 100 closed
the session up just 21.02 points, or 0.3
per cent, to 7,558.92 thanks to a boost
from London’s housebuilders, while
the FTSE 250 added a modest 111.88
points, or 0.5 per cent, to 21,329.89.
Investors bulked up their portfolios
with housebuilding stocks as they
grew more confident about the sector
amid reports that the government
may drop its pledge for housebuilders
to foot a £4 billion cladding
remediation bill. It led Berkeley
Group to rise 120p, or 3.2 per cent, to
£38.48, while Barratt Developments
moved up 15½p, or 3 per cent, to
533¾p and Persimmon gained 62p, or
2.9 per cent, to £22.10.
Positive on the outlook for bulkannuities, Barclays thought Just
Group, which provides retirement
income for people with health
problems, deserved an upgrade to an
“overweight” rating because the
FTSE 250 group has the highest
exposure among the other insurance
stocks the bank covers. The upgrade
helped the shares lift 5¼p, or 5.8 per
cent, to 95½p.
However, Barclays was less of a fan
of Aviva, the FTSE 100 insurer,
because of its exposure to the broader
retail market as it downgraded the
stock to “equal weight” from
“overweight,” causing the shares to
slip 6¾p, or 1.5 per cent, to 438p.
Larissa van Deventer, an analyst at
the bank, said: “The pandemic has
increased wealth inequality as excess
savings accumulated unevenly, with
wealthier households benefiting
most.” Therefore this should bode
well for insurers focusing on the
higher net-worth segments such as
St James’s Place, she said, but could be
“detrimental” to insurers like Aviva.Shipping firm’s dividend sinks
support servicesD
espite reporting
an increase in
annual profit,
Xpediator was
shunned by investors
as the group, which
arranges cross-
Channel shipping and
handles the red tape
for companies, said
the impact of the
fallout from the war
in Ukraine forced it to
trim its dividend.
Xpediator, which
listed on London’s
junior market in 2017,
reported a 10 per cent
rise in pre-tax profit
of £4.3 million for
2021, while revenue
jumped to
£296.6 million.
However, the group
said the conflict inUkraine had affected
its operations in
Lithuania, which
means it is now
proposing a final
dividend of 0.6p.
It means investors
will get a total
dividend payout of
1.1p for 2021, a 35 percent drop in
comparison to the
year before.
“Xpediator will not
be immune from
these challenges but
to date, trading has
been resilient,” Ron
Riddleston, the
group’s chief
executive, said.
However, the group
said it was confident
about this year’s
performance, as it
said that trading in
the first two months
of the year was ahead
of expectations, while
March’s performance
was in line with
forecasts.
The update sent the
shares down 5p, or
10 per cent, to 45p.Xpediator’s dividend
for last year will drop
35 per cent on 2020’sWall Street report
Indices were higher led by Twitter
and technology stocks on news of
Elon Musk’s stake. The Nasdaq was
up 271.05 points, or 1.9 per cent, to
14,532.55 and the Dow Jones
industrial average rose 103.61 points,
or 0.3 per cent, to 34,921.88.Company Change
888 Holdings Shares gain momentum after recent weakness 6.7%
Trainline Extends gains after commission rates lowered 6.2%
Just Group Analyst upgrade 5.8%
Auction Technology Group Tracks rally in US tech shares 5.0%
PureTech Health Recovers some losses 4.1%
Pets at Home Deutsche Bank trims target price -2.1%
Coats Group Follow through disposals after last week’s sell-off -2.6%
Clarkson Extends losses after heavy selling pressure last week -3.1%
Ferrexpo Investors retreat ahead of this week’s trading update -3.8%
Bridgepoint Group Runs out of steam after recent run higher -4.1%The day’s biggest movers
despite cancelled
flights to and from
Ukraine. That
compares with just
500,000 in March last
year. It is more than
the 10.9 million
passengers it carried in
March 2019.
Ryanair said that for
the 2021-22 financial
year as a whole it
carried 97 million
passengers, up from
the 27.5 million carried
in 2020-21 but still well
off its pre-pandemic
annual record of
149 million.
Shares, which now
trade on Euronext,
were down 0.8 cents to
€13.66, a drop of 0.58
per cent. That values
the firm at €15.1 billion
on the stock market.Ryanair gets
airborne but
with losses
Exchange rates
Bid Change
Australia $ 1.738 -0.01
Canada $ 1.635
Denmark Kr 8.870 +0.04
Euro ¤ 1.193 +0.01
Hong Kong $ 10.275 +0.01
Hungary 440.074 +3.25
Indonesia 18826.561 -5.69
Israel Shk 4.208 +0.01
Japan Yen 160.959 -0.07
New Zealand $ 1.884 -0.01
Norway Kr 11.403 -0.07
Poland 5.510
Russia 110.662 -0.25
S Africa Rd 19.121 -0.08
Sweden Kr 12.330 +0.06
Switzerland Fr 1.213
Turkey Lira 19.288 +0.03
USA $ 1.312
Rates supplied by MorningstarDollar rates
Australia 1.3252-1.3253
Canada 1.2493-1.2498
Denmark 6.7718-6.7728
Euro 0.9105-0.9106
Hong Kong 7.8340-7.8342
Japan 122.78-122.79
Malaysia 4.2080-4.2130
Norway 8.7114-8.7134
Singapore 1.3568-1.3569
Sweden 9.4078-9.4110
Switzerland 0.9261-0.9264Other Sterling
Argentina peso 146.19-146.20
Australia dollar 1.7368-1.7374
Bahrain dinar 0.4909-0.4981
Brazil real 6.0526-6.0566
Euro 1.1932-1.1934
Hong Kong dollar 10.267-10.270
India rupee 98.843-98.883
Indonesia rupiah 18772-18773
Kuwait dinar KD 0.3979-0.4003
Malaysia ringgit 5.5140-5.5206
New Zealand dollar 1.8823-1.8827
Singapore dollar 1.7781-1.7784
S Africa rand 19.109-19.120
U A E dirham 4.8124-4.8127Money rates %
Base Rates Clearing Banks 0.75 ECB Refi -0.50 US Fed Fd 0.00-0.25
Halifax Mortgage Rate 3.59Treasury Bills (Dis) Buy: 1 mth 0.289; 3 mth 0.559. Sell: 1 mth 0.240; 3 mth 0.4401 mth 2 mth 3 mth 6 mth 12 mth
Interbank Rates 0.7244 0.0000 1.0382 1.4792 0.0000
Eurodollar Deps 0.50-0.75 0.77-1.02 0.97-1.22 1.40-1.65 2.18-2.25Mkt Rates for Range Close 1 month 3 month
Copenhagen 8.8208-8.8899 8.8749-8.8762 103ds 349ds
Euro 1.1954-1.1861 1.1936-1.1932 9pr 33pr
Montreal 1.6351-1.6420 1.6373-1.6375 0pr 0pr
New York 1.3094-1.3136 1.3106-1.3106 3ds 3ds
Oslo 11.328-11.508 11.417-11.421 25pr 25pr
Stockholm 12.273-12.381 12.331-12.334 91ds 328ds
Tokyo 160.29-161.26 160.92-160.93 12ds 46ds
Zurich 1.2120-1.2167 1.2139-1.2142 15ds 53ds
Premium = pr Discount = dsSterling spot and forward rates
Gold/Precious
London Grain Futures metals (US dollars per ounce)
LIFFE Wheat (close £/t)
May 302.00 Jul unq Nov 262.00
Jan unq Mar unq Volume: 723
London Metal Exchange
(Official)
Cash 3mth Dec 22
Copper Gde A ($/tonne)
10300.5-10301.5 10322.0-10324.0 10225.0-10235.0
Lead ($/tonne)
2434.0-2435.0 2425.0-2426.0 2380.0-2385.0
Zinc Spec Hi Gde ($/tonne)
4470.0-4471.0 4408.0-4410.0 3590.0-3595.0
Alum Hi Gde ($/tonne)
3443.5-3444.0 3459.0-3461.0 3325.0-3330.0
Nickel ($/tonne)
33680.0-33690.0 33550.0-33600.0 33295.0-33345.0
Tin ($/tonne) 15mth
45450.0-45500.0 44500.0-44600.0 43640.0-43690.0European money
deposits %
Currency
1mth 3mth 6mth 12mth
Dollar
0.13 0.20 0.29 0.55
Sterling
0.72 1.04 1.48 0.81
Euro
0.10 0.15 0.20 0.50Data as shown is
for information
purposes only. No offer is made by
Morningstar or this publicationBecause of a technical issue, the gold fix
prices are from Friday.
Bullion: Open $1924.45
Close $1932.63-1932.88 High $1936.11
Low $1916.22
AM $1933.35 PM $1929.40
Krugerrand $1912.00-2015.00 (£1458.85-1537.44)
Platinum $994.70 (£758.95)
Silver $24.53 (£18.72)
Palladium $2304.00 (£1757.95)