As traditional budget-air rival Ryanair seemingly struggles amid industrial action, the question for easyJet PLC (LON:EZJ) is whether it can continue to fly high?
easyJet is due to issue a trading update on Wednesday as the airline’s peak summer season progresses.
Ryanair is dealing with cabin crew strikes across Europe, as it is still trying to recover from the holiday-booking-debacle that led to widespread cancellations. But, easyJet’s outlook appears to be positive – recent updates indicated second-half bookings were 57% at the beginning of May.
The FTSE 100-listed firm flew 7.9mln passengers in June 2018, up from 7.7mln at the same month a year ago. The airline’s load factor- the ration of passengers to available seats – rose to 95.4% from 94.8%.
In May, easyJet reported a winter profit, due to record passenger numbers and revenues, and predicted that its full-year pre-tax profit will be between £530mln and £580mln, compared to £480mln last year.
Analysts at Liberum Capital remain concerned about easyJet’s unit cost trends, but they still upgraded their rating for the airline to ‘hold’ from ‘sell’ at the start of June.
Will Severn Trent make a splash?
Severn Trent PLC (LON:SVT) publishes its first quarter trading update on Wednesday.
In May, the company reported a 4% rise in full-year profits as higher revenues and a strong performance in its new Dee Valley Water business offset higher costs and business rates.
The group also unveiled a £100mln investment drive to improve its offering and infrastructure.
In the quarterly update, Investors will be looking out for remarks on the progress on its investments and any guidance for the current fiscal year.
Significant announcements due Wednesday July 18:
Trading updates: easyJet PLC (Q3) (LON:EZJ), Severn Trent PLC (Q1) (LON:SVT), RPC Group PLC (Q1) (LON:RPC), GVC Holdings PLC (LON:GVC), Hochschild Mining PLC (LON:HOC), Premier Foods PLC (LON:PFD), Carr’s Group PLC (LON:CARR), Close Brothers Group PLC (LON:CBG), Alliance Pharma plc (LON:APH), Connect Group PLC (LON:CNCT), New River REIT PLC (LON:NRR)
AGMs: Talktalk Telecom Group PLC (LON:TALK), Experian PLC (LON:EXPN), Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (LON:BMY), BTG PLC (LON:BTG)
Economic data: UK CPI, RPI, PPI, HPI inflation; US housing starts