Easyjet on course for return flight to Footsie

EASYJET is set to return to the FTSE 100 nearly four years after it crashed out during the pandemic.

Global index provider FTSE Russell said the airline is on course for promotion when the next reshuffle takes place next month.

The changes will be based on closing share prices on Tuesday next week.

Easyjet is valued at £4.2bn, having seen its shares rise 55pc since October. That puts it on course to replace Endeavour Mining, which is likely to drop into the FTSE 250 after a 26pc fall in its share price so far this year left it worth £3.2bn.

The reshuffle comes as analysis by investment platform AJ Bell shows more than half of the 350 biggest London-listed stocks have not recovered in the four years since the Covid market crash.

Shares in 194 firms are still below where they were on February 21 2020 – the last trading session before markets around the world went into freefall.

The FTSE 350 index, which is made up of the FTSE 100 and 250, plummeted as the spread of the virus accelerated.

Investors were spooked by the prospect of governmentmandated stay-at-home orders effectively putting global economies on pause.

Since then, the index has recovered all its losses.

But 55pc of FTSE 350 firms were still languishing far below their pre-Covid levels.

Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at broker AJ Bell, said: ‘The big gains globally over the past few years have been in the technology sector which is grossly under- represented on the London Stock Exchange.’

Oil and gas company Harbour Energy suffered the biggest drop, lagging 87pc behind its pre-crash price, followed by car maker Aston Martin, which was 82pc down.