Travel agents going cold Turkey

By Geoff Foster for MailOnline
Updated: 02:51 EDT, 11 January 2006

GET the Christmas and New Year celebrations over and done with and then book a summer holiday. How many times have we done that? One destination that will certainly be out of bounds for many cautious holidaymakers this year is Turkey.

Every day more cases of bird flu are being reported in a country visited by 1.7m Britons a year. With fears growing that it may already have reached Istanbul, tourism in the region could be devastated this summer.

Turkey is a high margin area for the main travel companies so the prospect of a dearth of holidaymakers this year dragged First Choice Holidays down 6½p to 243½p and My Travel 6½p to 233p. British travel agents insist the risk to tourists is low, but who knows?

Dealers said First Choice should be least affected by Turkey traumas because it has turned its back on the mass market. In December it bought Grand Expeditions, a US travel experience group that specialises in US holidays for affluent 45 to 65 year-olds. It also bolted on Intrav, a private jet and cruise business.

Global bank HSBC (10p off at 959p) is certainly taking the bird flu threat seriously. It said yesterday that in a 'worst case' scenario, as many as half its staff could be knocked out of action by a bird flu pandemic. HSBC has 253,000 workers in 77 countries and is preparing for staff to work from home, or via video link and teleconference facilities.

With medical experts saying there is a 'high' possibility that the virus will spread to Britain, some neurotic investors decided to take profits in a market which has soared 5% over the festive period.

Mining stocks succumbed to aggressive selling following a double-whammy from the US Alcoa, the world's biggest aluminium producer, reported weaker than expected results and copper miner Phelps Dodge warned about fourth-quarter profits. The Footsie fell 42.7 points to 5,688.8, while Wall Street opened with a 62-point drop below 11,000.

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Antofagasta lost 99p to 1804p, followed by Xstrata (off 53p to 1423p), Anglo American (down 64p to 1949p) and RioTinto (66p lower at 2634p). Precious metals group Johnson Matthey fell 52p to 1384p after Goldman Sachs placed 5.5m shares at 1405p with institutional investors.

International bank Standard Chartered fell 34p to 1296p on reports of a pending bearish circular.

Following downbeat comments about the US education market by textbook publisher McGraw-Hill, FT owner Pearson fell 17p to 685p.

Advice from Merrill Lynch for investors to switch into Aviva (8½p easier at 715p) left Prudential 12½p off at 561p. The boys in dark glasses believe that the Pru has recently held abortive merger talks with a UK rival.

Fashion retailer Next jumped 31p to 1704p as Panmure advised investors to switch out of Marks & Spencer (9½p down at 492½p) following the latter's upbeat Christmas trading statement.

Speculation about a possible bid from Sweden's Vattenfall lifted utility Scottish & Southern to 1042p before it closed 7½p better at 1017p.

Celebrating four international orders worth £156m, oil equipment services group Abbot gushed 15p to 280p.

Sold down to 325p on talk of a pending venture capitalist share placing, telecoms services group Inmarsat rallied to finish 6¾p better at 348¾p.

Currently in receipt of a 323p-a-share bid approach from NTL, Virgin Mobile touched 370p after Merrill Lynch placed 9.2m shares at 362p. The close was 3p lower at 367p. Fidelity, Morley or Aberforth could have been the big seller.

Online publisher Vitesse Media soared 7p to 24½p after finance director Clive Hall bought 30,000 shares at 18p. Computer games software group Bits Corporation edged up 1p to 25p amid talk of an imminent placing above the current market price.

First Africa dipped 0.45p to 4⅜p on hearing that discussions with Chinese third parties are ongoing. Sceptics believe a fundraising could soon be on the cards.

• FUEL cell specialist ITM Power rocketed 59½p to 209½p following the result of longevity testing of its Mk4 electrolyser. It has been operated for 1,000 hours with no loss in performance. By mid-year, it hopes to reach 3,000 hours, which would cut the cost per litre-equivalent to 92p. Evolution is a fan but says ITM will need to raise a serious amount of money to begin commercialisation.