Odey’s firm jettisons airlines

ODEY Asset Management has dumped its stakes in Ryanair and British Airways owner IAG, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Fund manager James Hanbury sold his holding in IAG – International Consolidated Airlines – after shares rebounded by more than 8 per cent this year.

Airlines were pummelled by the pandemic as international flights ground to a halt. IAG reported last month that losses in the first half of the year had hit €2 billion.

The presentation seen by

The Mail on Sunday also shows that Hanbury has been investing in Frasers Group over the past month.

It emerged last week that Frasers Group chief executive Mike Ashley will be stepping down from his retail empire, which owns Sports Direct, passing the baton to his son-in-law Michael Murray.

Hanbury’s funds have an investment in Oxford Nanopore, the British life sciences firm that is set for a blockbuster flotation.

He also bet that shares in cinema chain AMC Entertainment – popular with ‘armchair’ retail investors – would fall.

His funds were hit this year when shares in electrical retailer AO World plunged by 47 per cent.

The fund group was set up by hedge fund tycoon Crispin Odey in 1991, who stepped back from overseeing the firm last year to focus on running his own funds.

THERE are bullish comments from investment bank Peel Hunt on Mike Ashley’s Frasers, which last week confirmed rumours it had begun plans to replace the big man at the helm with his son-in-law.

Analyst Jonathan Pritchard described a presentation on Thursday as ‘the most enlightening we have ever seen’ from the group, with clear plans for growth. That includes a strategy for ‘exponential’ growth in sales of luxury goods, spearheaded by Flannels, while focusing on the sports participation at Sports Direct and potentially diverging from fierce rivalry with JD.

But he warned investors will need to hunker down while rising star Mike Murray gets his teeth more firmly into the group strategy and that changes would not come cheaply.

Could ‘Little’ Mike come with a knack for elevating communication as well as the group’s sometimes confusing strategy?

Peel Hunt raised its price target to £5.50 from £4 – still below today’s £5.87.

CREDIT Suisse says ‘strong activity’ in permanent recruitment at consultancy Robert Walters has prompted it to revise its share price target from £7.75 to £8.15.

Robert Walters reported record first-half profits last month.

The employment market is encouraging on several fronts, from rising starting salaries, shortages in some industries and demand from companies reopening after extended periods of lockdown.

Credit Suisse is more muted on the mediumterm prospects, but with the market hotting up in the short term, its price forecast would be a premium on Robert Walters’ £6.74 close on Friday.