Proactive Investors - RyanAir, Wizz Air (LON:WIZZ) load factors drop in January.
Ryanair (LON:0RYA) reported 3% growth in passenger numbers in January but a reduced load factor.
The Irish budget airline said it carried 12.2 million passengers in January compared to 11.8 million the year before with the load factor down 2 percentage points to 89% from 91%.
It operated over 71,700 flights in January with over 950 flights cancelled due to Israel/Gaza conflict.
As previously guided, the short-term reduction to the load factor was due to the removal of Ryanair flights from most online travel agents “pirate” websites in early December.
Elsewhere, Wizz Air Holdings PLC (AIM:WIZZ) carried 4.74 million passengers in January, a 14.2% increase year-on-year, at a load factor of 82.0%, down 4.1 percentage points from last year.
The airline said it the drop in load factor reflected the reallocation of capacity in response to evolving geopolitical events.
Wizz Air said it is actively implementing measures to support a recovery in load factor going forward.
YouGov confident of hitting City expectations
Fewer fireworks in London so far this Friday.
But there is a trading update from YouGov PLC (LON:YOU) which said it was confident of meeting market expectations despite a slow first quarter.
The London-based research and data analytics group said in the six months ended January 31 trading was “resilient,” despite the continued challenging macro-economic environment.
It said sales cycles are longer but that sales momentum, after a slow first quarter, has significantly accelerated in the second quarter.
Encouragingly, the firm said it continues to see sales momentum in the technology sector, while some other sectors have been “more challenging.”
Performance has been driven by stable demand in its Data Products and Research divisions, while discretionary spend continues to be impacted by general market softness.
It said it had delivered revenue growth in the business on a like-for-like basis, and that reported revenue for the first half will be strong, although it gave no specific numbers.
YouGov said the recently acquired Consumer Panel Services of GfK has been trading ahead of expectations since the acquisition announcement in July 2023.
The firm will release half-year results on March 26.
FTSE 100 set to open strongly
The FTSE 100 is expected to open sharply higher on Friday after Wall Street rallied and Meta provided some fireworks after the US close.
Spread betting companies are calling London’s lead index up by around 53 points after closing down 8.41 points, 0.1%, at 7,622.16 on Thursday.
On Wall Street, markets leapt recouping most of Wednesday’s heavy losses and closing well above the levels seen at London’s close.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.0% white both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.3%.
After the closing bell in New York, Meta leapt 15.6% after unveiling a $50 billion share buyback, its first ever dividend and better-than-expected results.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) jumped 7.1% after revenue and earnings topped Street expectations but Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) slipped 2.9% after sales in China dropped 13%.
Later today, US non-farm payrolls will take centre stage alongside results from Chevron (NYSE:CVX), Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) and Bristol Myers.
Back in London, investors will be digesting yesterday’s interest rate call while YouGov will update on trading.