Source: Daily Mail {Main} Edition: Country: UK Date: Wednesday 18, November 2020 Page: 68 Area: 289 sq. cm Circulation: ABC 1007181 Daily Ad data: page rate £32,508.00, scc rate £129.00 Phone: 020 7938 6000 Keyword: Stelios Haji-ioannou Easyjet posts first loss in quarter of a century - 1.9pc, or 16p, to 762.6p. r 590p) upgraded revenue and r NO AMOUNT of bracing for In more turbulence forsubstantially the air-a profitfrom a guidance previous tosaw between a bumper £170m 17pc boost in reve- t MARKET REPORT line sector, investors in Britishd to £190m, though this hinges on Airways-owner IAG failed to beo its contract for next year’s Tokyo - h Olympics going ahead. by roused by Spanish reports that it has cut the price it will pay fore And Gear4music smashed expec- Francesca Spanish airline Air Europa to- tations as sales soared 42pc to - between £270m and £360m, down £70m in the first half to Septem- - y ber, which included months when - Washtell substantially from a previous price tag of around £895m. t Britons picked up instruments - . and equipment to keep them busy IAG fell 3.3pc, or 5.3p, to 153.45p, NO AMOUNT of bracing for as it was also swept up in a widere during lockdown, and it is believed painful results from Easyjet sell-off that undid a modest rallyn that the boom will continue over could take the sting out of a on Monday, kicked off by Moder- - Christmas. Investors liked the £1.3bn loss – the first fall into na’s announcement that its poten- sound of the update, with shares the red in its 25-year history. tial vaccine was 95pc effective. e up 5.2pc, or 35p, to 715p. AJ Bell investment director Russ The FTSE 100 backtracked by Mould described the annual num- 0.9pc, or 55.96 points, to 6365.33, bers as ‘ugly reading’, as the pan- while the FTSE 250 fell by 0.5pc, demic halved the number of pas- or 91.88 points, to 19516.17. sengers the airline flew to 48m Outsourcing giant Mitie Group and wiped 53pc off revenues. was on a roll – jumping 14.4pc, or Easyjet cut costs when it became 4.9p, to 38.9p – after regulators clear that the effects of Covid gave it the green light to take over would far outlast the spring. A s a key division of Interserve in a well as axing 4,500 jobs and selling £190m deal. The Competition and and leasing back aircraft, it took Markets Authority chose not to Government support, and ha s refer the takeover for an in-depth extended the period of repay- investigation, leaving the pair free ments for its £600m state loan. to merge their huge facilities man- Management also had to juggle agement businesses. a battle with founder Sir Stelios Mitie was originally set to pay £271m for the Interserve arm, but Haji-Ioannou, who yesterday this was cut by £80m this month. described the results as ‘jiggery- And in a busy day for corporate pokery’. The outlook, however, is news, a clutch of companies won mixed. Between January and favour with traders after upgrad- March the budget carrier will run ing profit guidance. just a fifth of the flights it sched- Checkatrade-owner Homeserve uled in the same period of lasts saw a bumper 17pc boost in reve- year as it gears up for a winter in nues in the six months to Septem- which there still may not be stand-, ber, as people locked down at ardised airport testing, surging r home called in handymen to carve virus rates and people’s financlyes out home offices and fit kitchens. being ever more stretched. r- In anticipation of restrictions But there were also encouraging- running throughout the winter, signs. It said that the day after the boss Richard Harpin said some of Canary Islands was removed fromy the most frequent requests for the banned travel list, ticket sales - 3, quotes are now hot tub installa- were up tenfold. c, tions, garden lights and garden And bookings jumped by 50pc landscaping. Homeserve rose after Pfizer released its vaccinep 2.4pc, or 30p, to 1267p, and lifted announcement last week. But ther its dividend 7pc to 6.2p. FTSE 250-listed stock droppeds Aggreko (up 3.9pc, or 22p, to - 1.9pc, or 16p, to 762.6p. r 590p) upgraded revenue and In more turbulence for the air-a profit guidance to between £170m 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 1 502629051 - ABHJAI - A12310-1 - 164801430.