Budget airline easyJet (EZJ) soars 5.5% to £16.49 as its passenger numbers increase by 8% to 18.8m in its first quarter.
For the three-month period ending 31 December, the airline has increased its total revenue by 14.4% to £1.14bn and has completed the acquisition of Air Berlin. At the end of quarter, the company had a net cash position of £357m.
THE FTSE 100 is rallying early on Tuesday following more record gains by US markets after the Senate agreed a temporary deal to end a Federal shutdown.
Back to corporate news, pet goods supplier Pets at Home (PETS) ticks up 7.5% to 195.7p on releasing a strong set of third quarter numbers. For the period between 13 October and 4 January, its revenue has grown by 9.6% to £223.3m. Its like-for-like revenue growth hits 7.2% while all financial guidance for the company remains unchanged.
IT service provider FDM (FDM) boots up 4.8% to £10.24 after saying it had a strong end to 2017. The company finished the year with 3,130 highly trained IT consultants, dubbed ‘mounties’ placed on client sites. This represents a 17% increase on a year-on-year basis. The company closed the year with revenue up by 23% to £233m. The company adds its balance sheet remains strong with no debt and ‘significant’ cash balances.
Online trading platform IG (IGG) bids up 2.7% to 804.25p on the release of its first half results to 30 November. Its trading revenue is up 10% to £268.4m on a year-on-year basis while it has also trimmed operating expenses by 7% to £117.6m. The company’s pre-tax profits is up 29% to £136.2m with profit margins improving by 7.7 percentage points to 50.7%.
Satellite television network Sky (SKY) is up 2.6% to £10.29 on reporting news it received by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The CMA has made a provisional finding that the proposed acquisition of Sky by 21st Century Fox is ‘not likely to operate against the public interest on broadcasting standards grounds’.
However, the CMA’s provisional view is that the ‘Transaction may be expected to operate against the public interest on media plurality grounds, but, at the same time, that the CMA has set out possible remedies relating to these concerns, and is seeking submissions on these’.
The CMA has extended the timetable due to the ‘exceptional volume of substantive submissions, the need to hold a large number of hearings and the novelty and complexity of the investigation'.
Digital healthcare provider Kainos (KNOS) advances 4.8% to 395p on announcing a deal to implement cloud-managed Evolve Electronic Medical Records (EMR) in the Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust. The company says the deal show a way of overcoming some of the biggest challenges Trusts face which include limited financial resources, stretched IT budgets and ongoing security risks.
Online fashion retailer N Brown (BWNG) sheds 15.7% to 235p despite releasing a decent set of numbers in Tuesday’s trading statement. Its revenue is up 2.7% with total customers up 4.7% 18 weeks to 6 January. There may be some uncertainty due to the following statement by its CEO Angela Spindler. ‘We are confident in achieving our overall profit expectations. These remain unchanged, although we expect the shape of our results to be different than previously anticipated, as reflected in our revised guidance.’
Pub chain Marston’s (MARS) spills 4.9% to 109p blaming poor weather for a difficult 16 week period to 20 January. The company’s like-for-like sales are up 1.1% during the period although this excludes the two ‘snow affected weeks’.
