Just as the weather appears to be taking a turn for the better, interims from easyJet PLC land on the runway.
It should be a strong set of figures from the no-frills airline as it has already reported increased numbers of passengers for the last three months, so the likelihood is that losses will narrow from a year earlier.
The airline with the orange livery said it flew 7.45mln passengers in April, up from 7.1mln a year earlier, while in March the company carried 6.5mln passengers, up from 6.3mln in March 2017, despite the cancellations caused by the cold blast brought by “the Beast from the East’, not to mention French industrial action.
The group’s load factor – the number of passengers as percentage of the number of seats available – rose to 93.4% in March.
UBS expects easyJet’s first-half sales to come in at £2.13bn, up from £1.83bn a year earlier, with fare growth of roughly 9% and traffic growth of around 7%.
The Swiss bank also expects the airline’s pre-tax loss to narrow to £113mln, down from £212mln a year earlier.
Mobile phone networks operator Vodafone will have to go some in its full-year results release on Tuesday to top its blockbuster announcement six days earlier.
Then, after months of negotiation with Liberty Global, Vodafone revealed that it is to become Europe’s biggest quad-play (mobile, home phone, pay-TV and internet) operator after acquiring operations in four countries from the US cable giant.
The deal may put some vim into a company that has been regarded with a good deal less enthusiasm since it offloaded its Verizon Wireless stake.
Third quarter revenue trends did little to enthuse investors but Numis Securities thinks the market’s reaction was over the top.
It is forecasting full-year underlying earnings (EBITDA) of €14.75bn, earnings per share of 11.82 cents and a dividend of 15.1 cents. Free cash flow has been estimated at €3.80bn.
Given the fact the company has just splashed out on a big acquisition, investors might take a closer interest than usual in free cash flow and gearing, not to mention the dividend.
Significant announcements expected
Interims: easyJet PLC (LON:EZJ), CYBG PLC (LON:CYBG), Elegant Hotels Group PLC (LON:EHG), Ei Group PLC (LON:EIG), ITE Group PLC (LON:ITE), Patisserie Holdings PLC (LON:CAKE), Ten Lifestyle Group PLC (LON:TENG)
Finals: Vodafone PLC (LON:VOD), Land Securities PLC (LON:LAND), DCC Plc (LON:DCC), Premier Foods PLC (LON:PFD), BTG PLC (LON:BTG), Animalcare Group PLC (LON:ANCR), Braemar Shipping Services PLC (LON:BMS), Gear4music Holdings PLC (LON:G4M), Sprue Aegis PLC (LON:SPRP)
Trading update: Hargreaves Lansdown PLC (LON:HL.), Spirax-Sarco PLC (LON:SPX)
Economic data: US retail sales; US housing market index; US business inventories; US Empire State manufacturing index