Stelios Targets Easyjet's Finance Chief in Dispute
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Source: Daily Mail {Main} Edition: Country: UK Date: Tuesday 7, April 2020 Page: 72 Area: 311 sq. cm Circulation: ABC 1134184 Daily Ad data: page rate £32,508.00, scc rate £129.00 Phone: 020 7938 6000 Keyword: Stelios Haji-ioannou Stelios targets Easyjet’s finance chief in dispute tbt jt’ id it ld t k hit i Chi THE spat between Easyjet’s board and its colourful founder MARKET REPORT intensified as he lined up the air- line’s finance boss as his next tar- get in an attack on management. by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou wants Easyjet to cancel a £4.5bn order to Francesca buy 107 planes from Airbus as the firm struggles to stay afloat dur- Washtell ing the coronavirus pandemic. He claims Easyjet will run out of money by around August other- about its rapid expansion plans. wise, and has vowed not to put He has derided the planes on any more cash into the business order as ‘useless’ after Covid-19 unless it agrees to this demand. brought air travel to a virtual This has weight, considering he standstill, with Easyjet’s 344- and his family own more than a strong fleet already grounded. third of Easyjet’s shares. Easyjet insists one-off meetings Stelios heaped more pressure on to vote on directors would be ‘an management by calling on the unhelpful distraction’. company to remove finance chief Yesterday it said it has become Andrew Findlay, saying it would the first airline to secure a corona- be ‘the best way to stop him writ- virus loan from the Treasury and ing billion-pound cheques plus to Bank of England’s emergency Airbus every year’. Stelios tried to fund, worth £600m. It has also requisition a meeting last week to agreed to get a further £400m from unseat non-executive director lenders, which will tot up its cash Andreas Bierwirth. pot to £2.3bn later this week. Tensions have simmered since The latest escalation in the con- 2017 between Easyjet’s manage- flict didn’t hold back Easyjet’s ment and Stelios, who is sceptical shares, with the budget airline Reproduced by Gorkana under licence from the NLA (newspapers), CLA (magazines), FT (Financial Times/ft.com) or other copyright owner. No further copying (including printing of digital cuttings), digital reproduction/forwarding of the cutting is permitted except under licence from the copyright owner. All FT content is copyright The Financial Times Ltd. Article Page 1 of 2 484171484 - LAXKHA - A12310-1 - 158910660 Source: Daily Mail {Main} Edition: Country: UK Date: Tuesday 7, April 2020 Page: 72 Area: 311 sq. cm Circulation: ABC 1134184 Daily Ad data: page rate £32,508.00, scc rate £129.00 Phone: 020 7938 6000 Keyword: Stelios Haji-ioannou surging 16.3pc, or 77.4p, to 552.4p said it would take a hit in China amid a wider stock market rally. and Italy and on sports betting. The FTSE 100 rose 3.1pc, or 166.89 888 Holdings soared 12.4pc, or points, to 5582.39, as the rate of 13.8p, to 124.8p, after the same coronavirus infections appeared to two banks sang its praises as it be slowing in western Europe and does not rely on sports betting or as traders waited for Japan to retail stores, both of which are wheel out a stimulus package struggling during the crisis. expected to be worth more than On the junior market, two sci- £800bn. European indexes made ence and pharmaceutical groups steeper gains with France’s Cac 40 rose on their latest efforts to help up 4pc and Germany’s Dax up fight Covid-19. 5pc, while the domestically Ergomed, which provides serv- focused FTSE 250 climbed 5.1pc, ices to pharmaceutical firms, rose or 713.15 points, to 14812.36. 1.7pc, or 7.5p, to 450p as it said it Oil prices fell 3pc, or about $1, to $33 as a virtual meeting between will help in a second clinical trial squabbling Saudi Arabia and Rus- in Italy that is looking at ways to sia was being tentatively resched- help those seriously ill with the uled for later this week. virus. And Novacyt rallied 12.1pc, Oilfields services group Petrofac or 23.5p, to 217p as its coronavirus was up 4.2pc, or 8.25p, to 205p test was approved for sale in after it revealed plans to cut costs France and Thailand. by £81m this year, in part by shed- Neil Woodford favourite Eve ding 20pc of staff and furloughing Sleep fell 7.1pc in early trading as other workers. the online mattress seller said Gambling technology group chief executive James Sturrock Playtech (down 4.9pc, or 8.6p, to had quit and will be replaced by 168.7p) tipped into the red after marketing boss Cheryl Calverley. downgrades from brokers at Deut- The shares recovered to close flat sche Bank and JPMorgan, who at 1.05p. Reproduced by Gorkana under licence from the NLA (newspapers), CLA (magazines), FT (Financial Times/ft.com) or other copyright owner. No further copying (including printing of digital cuttings), digital reproduction/forwarding of the cutting is permitted except under licence from the copyright owner. All FT content is copyright The Financial Times Ltd. Article Page 2 of 2 484171484 - LAXKHA - A12310-1 - 158910660.