Market Loop - ✈Discounts at Ryanair to boost sales

TRAVEL
Discounts at Ryanair to boost sales 

What’s going on?
Europe’s biggest low-cost airline Ryanair said it will need “price stimulation" to drive passenger numbers this winter. 

Why is this important?

Ryanair is starting to see a recovery in business as travel restrictions ease across Europe. It reported an 83% increase in revenues to €2.2bn in the six-months to September compared to the same period in 2020. 

But passenger numbers are still well below pre-Covid levels. Ryanair carried 39.1m people in the six months, 54% fewer than in the same period in 2019.

Despite good cost control the airline remains loss making, with losses falling from €411m a year ago to €48m in the half.

The last three months of the year are usually a quieter period for travel compared to the summer and even more so during a pandemic. Ryanair says it will cut ticket prices to help fill planes this winter.

Looking ahead the company was more optimistic over the travel recovery. It now believes it can carry more than 100m passengers in the year to March 2022, ahead of the 80m – 100m it originally forecast.

Takeaway
Ryanair is in for tough winter - high fuel prices and discounted ticket prices will be a major hit to profits. 
But if it can hold tight it should be well placed operationally and financially to benefit from a very strong recovery from next summer.
 

BANKS
Barclays boss shock exit

Barclays CEO Jes Staley has resigned abruptly after an inquiry into his relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Staley has run one of Britain’s biggest banks since 2015 and prior to that spent 30 years at American bank JP Morgan, where he was Epstein’s private banker.

For almost two years UK finance regulators have been investigating how Staley and Barclays described his links to Epstein. Over the weekend the preliminary findings were released to Staley (but not the public) who was reportedly so shocked and angry with the conclusion that he stepped down from his role to contest it.

Epstein was a wealthy businessman and convicted paedophile who was friends with many high-profile people including Bill Gates and Prince Andrew. He died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial.

Staley has always maintained that his relationship with Epstein was strictly professional but emails between the two handed to the regulators suggest that it was much closer.

Staley will leave with a £2.4m “golden goodbye”, £120,000 in pension contributions and costs to relocate back home to the US.

Barclays has had a rough time finding a longstanding leader. Staley was the fifth CEO in a decade after his predecessors left amid other scandals and controversies.

C.S. Venkatakrishnan from Swiss rival Credit Suisse will join Barclays as the new CEO effective immediately.