Ryanair Revenues Surge, Citycon in

Nigel Thomas
26 May, 2015
New York City

Ryanair net profit in the year surged 66% to

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Ryanair net profit in the year surged 66% to €867 million on 12% jump in revenues. Citycon agreed to acquire Norway-based Sektor Gruppen for about €1.5 billion. Cineworld revenues surged 27%. L''Oreal said it is not interested in acquiring Wella haircare business.[/R]

European markets traded lower and market indexes in London declined on the first day of trading after a 3-day weekend.

In London trading, FTSE 100 index slipped 0.5% or 38.01 to 6,993.71 and in Frankfurt the DAX index declined 1.4% or 165.09 to 11,649.92.

In Paris, CAC 40 index fell 7.78 to 5,109.39.

BHP Billiton Plc slipped 0.8% to 1,397.50 pence after the U.K.-based mining company completed the spinoff of South32.

Cineworld Group Plc gained 1.9% to 510.50 pence after the U.K.-based digital cinemas operator said total revenue in the 19-weeks ending May 14 surged 26.8% and revenues from Box Office segment climbed 23.8%. Revenues from retail business jumped 27.9% and other income advanced 47.1%.

Citycon Oyj climbed 3.2% to €2.79 after the Finland-based retail property developer agreed to acquire Norway-based shopping-center owner Sektor Gruppen for about €1.47 billion or $1.7 billion in cash and assumption debt.

Citycon plan is planning a rights offering of about €600 million and the rest of approx €671 million from an existing bank financing facilities.

The transaction is expected to close in July.

L''Oreal SA gained 0.6% to €175.45 and in an interview with German daily news Handelsblatt, Nicolas Hieronimus, the head of the luxury division of L''Oreal said the company is not interested in acquiring Wella haircare business from Procter & Gamble Co.

Micro Focus International Plc gained 1.1% to 1,292 pence after the U.K.-based enterprise applications provider forecasted revenues for the year ending in April of about $835 million and operating income of about $345 million.

The company will issue its preliminary results for the year on July 8.

Ryanair Holdings Plc climbed 5% to €11.47 after the Ireland-based low-cost airline reported revenues in the year ending in March soared 12% to €5.65 billion from €5.04 billion in a year ago period.

Net profit in the year surged 66% from a year ago to €866.7 million compared to €522.8 million and diluted earnings per share jumped to €62.46 from €36.86.

Ryanair said traffic climbed 11% to 90.6 million customers from 81.7 million customers a year ago period and load factors jumped to 88% from 83% a year ago.

The airliner said average load factors in the first four months of this year soared 10% and traffic growth is estimated to rise 10% in the current year.