Jet2 owner takes off as passenger numbers fly
WHILE much of the travel industry struggles amid terrorism fears and Brexit uncertainty, the firm behind Jet2holidays reported a strong summer season. Dart Group, which owns the holiday operator as well as its logistics arm Fowler Welch, said revenue was up 21pc to £1.2bn.
Pre-tax profit climbed 12pc to £163.7m in the half year to September 30. Dart said leisure travel had underpinned progress, with the number of package holiday customers rising 36pc to 1.3m. It also carried 2.5m flight-only passengers over the period.
Jet2 will start flying from Birmingham and Stansted in March, and said while there are pricing pressures with a weaker pound, it had increased seat capacity by 13pc.
Dart said there was no post-Brexit slowdown in bookings and full-year performance was likely to be slightly ahead of expectations. Shares darted up 8.4pc, or 34p to 437.5p.
The FTSE 100 finished the day 0.7pc higher, or 44.99 points at 6794.71. Property firms staged a
comeback after a few days in the doldrums, as figures revealed prices rose in September.
Barratt Developments climbed 3.5pc, or 16.5p to 486p to recover some of the previous day’s losses.
British Land edged up 3pc, or 17.5p to 610p as BNP Paribas upped its target price for the stock. Building services group TClarke shrugged off Brexit concerns and reassured investors it had a strong order book and had seen no cancellations.
In a trading update the firm said it had signed contracts for London’s newest skyscraper development at 22 Bishopsgate. TClarke has secured a £56m deal to assist with electricals and fire alarm systems in the tower, being developed by Axa Investment Managers. Construction starts next year and is set to complete in 2019.
Last month the business had uncovered financial irregularities at one of its subsidiaries. It said initial inquiries suggested that in excess of £2.8m had been misappropriated by an employee over a number of years. Yesterday TClarke said it had started legal proceedings to recover the funds and investigations are continuing. Shares advanced 4.8pc, or 2.8p to 60.8p.
Safestore surged as it reported full-year revenue was up 10.1pc at £115.4m. The self-storage company, which operates in the UK and Paris, said that new acquisitions, extensions and openings in Wandsworth, Altrincham and Birmingham meant it now had 1.6m sq ft of space available to let.
Chief executive Frederic Vecchioli said earnings should be at the top end of expectations. Investec, which has a ‘Buy’ rating on the stock, said it was a good finish to a strong year for the firm.
Shares gained 3.2pc, or 11.2p to 358.5p. Premier Oil slipped as it said a refinancing agreement was in the final stages of negotiation with banks and bondholders. The oil producer, which has interests in Pakistan and the Falkland Islands, said production was beating estimates and its Catcher well in the North Sea is on target to start producing next year. Chief executive Tony Durrant said the business had reduced costs and was delivering against a challenging backdrop for commodities.
He said: ‘Refinancing has taken longer than anticipated, but will, once completed, put Premier in good stead to reinvest in the business while paying down debt [which is £2.25bn].’ Shares stumbled 0.9pc, or 0.5p to 54p.
The largest shareholder of Conroy Gold and Natural Resources took advantage of a share price dip to top up his stake in the business. Patrick O’Sullivan bought 105,000 shares in the Irish firm, increasing his stake in the company to 23.04pc with 2.54m shares to his name.
The AIM-listed miner said in its full-year results that it had discovered new gold zones at its Clay Lake project. But Conroy made a loss of around £250,000 in the year to May 31, and has raised £1.4m from investors. Shares tumbled 8.9pc, or 2p to 20.5p.