Proactive Investors - Jet2 PLC’s return to profitability was largely expected as the sector enjoys a post-pandemic bounce-back, but news that the airline’s chairman would depart saw sentiment skewed.
Shares fell over 11.5% on Thursday morning as long-serving executive chairman Philip Meeson announced he would be retiring from the company after 40 years.
The fall came despite the airline reporting an operating profit of £394mln in the year to March 2023, up on a £324mln loss in 2022.
Barclays (LON:BARC) brokers tipped the slip-up was to be expected following the news of Meeson leaving since he has been with the airline since buying it in 1983.
AJ Bell analyst Russ Mould commented a share price hit was “one way to measure the respect for a leader of a company” meanwhile.
Despite pointing to resilience in package holidays and Meeson’s own confidence on the outlook of the group, Jet2 opted not offer any specific guidance on next years’ trading, instead saying it was “cognisant of how quickly the macro-economic environment is evolving”.
Barclays reassured the lack of a forecast was unlikely to prompt any consensus changes though, with the bank anticipating Jet2 to score pre-tax profit of £452mln in 2024.
The fate of Meeson’s majority stake in Jet2 marks the real question though, according to Mould, who suggested he would want to “crystallise” on the company’s long-term share price gain.
“Meeson was seen as the captain of the company’s success,” Mould added, “building up a greatly admired British business and showing that it was possible to disrupt the airline industry”.