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Dart jets in with better profits
Dart, the owner of the Jet2.com airline, is heading for better-than-expected full-year profits despite the aviation industry downturn.
Shares in the Aim-listed company jumped 10¼ to 47p after it issued an upbeat pre-close trading statement.
Jet2.com, which flies from northern UK airports, such as Blackpool and Newcastle, to package holiday hotspots including Malaga, Ibiza and Rhodes, has benefited from cutting services to some destinations and from the collapse of charter airline XL Leisure.
Dart's other business, chilled foods distributor Fowler Welch-Coolchain, is also holding up well.
Dart, which announced a 97pc rise in pre-tax profits to £36.3m in the first six months, said the group had "continued to trade ahead of market expectations" during the seasonally tougher second half.
It added it would now finish the year with net cash – about £10m, according to house broker Collins Stewart.
Chris Thomas, an analyst at Arden Partners, upgraded his full-year profit forecasts from £20m to £27m, including an estimated £3m from what Dart described as "one-off treasury gains, driven by the strength of the US dollar".
"The demise of XL will have made life a bit easier for them," Mr Thomas said, adding it was encouraging that Jet2.com's bookings and load factors for this summer were "in line with 2008 levels".
Andrew Fitchie, at Collins Stewart, said: "Capacity cuts and last year's network refocus – importance of Eastern Med, Canaries and Sharm El Sheikh – has paid off."