Wizz Air passenger numbers rise, GSK's Nucala gets China approval
By Josh White
Date: Friday 03 Jan 2025
(Sharecast News) - London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open flat on Friday, having closed up 1.1% on Thursday at 8,260.09.
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Budget airline Wizz Air on Friday reported a 1.9% increase in passenger numbers for December on an annual basis, but capacity declined as it continued to ground aircraft due to problems with Pratt & Whitney engines. The company carried 5.06 million passengers last month. Seat capacity was down 3.1% year-on-year with a load factor of 86.5%, up 4.3 percentage points. Wizz added that early indications for the fourth quarter to March 2025 remained positive, with bookings currently running ahead by more than 2 percentage points against this time last year.
GSK announced that 'Nucala', or mepolizumab, has been approved in China for treating adults with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) inadequately controlled by corticosteroids or surgery, marking its third indication for an IL-5 mediated condition in the country. The FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals giant said the approval was supported by results from the phase three MERIT and SYNAPSE trials, demonstrating the efficacy of mepolizumab, which targets IL-5 to address type two inflammation, a key driver of CRSwNP. It said it offered patients a non-surgical alternative for managing a condition that affects about 30 million people in China, significantly impacting quality of life.
Newspaper round-up
High streets and other shopping destinations have had a "drab December", ending another year of falling visitor numbers and raising fears of disappointing sales in the most important month for retailers. Attendance at UK shopping centres, retail parks and high streets was down 2.2% in December compared with the same period in 2023, according to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and analysts at Sensormatic. The decrease was led by a 3.3% decline at shopping centres. - Guardian
Shops and restaurants face record staff tax bills this year as Rachel Reeves's Budget raid hammers businesses. The cost of employing a full-time worker on minimum wage will rise by £2,367 this year to more than £24,800 per person, with more than £5,000 of that going to the Treasury, according to new analysis by the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS). The surge will be driven by the Chancellor's decision to increase employer National Insurance contributions from April and sign off on an inflation-busting increase in minimum wage. - Telegraph
Worldwide sales of Tesla vehicles fell for the first time in a decade last year as the American electric car manufacturer battled fast-growing Chinese rivals for dominance amid slowing global demand. The Texas-based carmaker, led by the billionaire Elon Musk, delivered 1.79 million vehicles in 2024, down 1.1 per cent on 2023's 1.81 million and short of Wall Street expectations. - The Times
Nick Clegg, Britain's former deputy prime minister and Meta's current president of global affairs, is leaving the company after six years. Clegg joined the Facebook parent company in 2018 as the social media platform's vice‑president for global affairs and communications. At the time the company faced intense scrutiny over the Cambridge Analytica data scandal and its role in the 2016 US presidential election. - Guardian
EasyJet is reducing the amount of paint it applies to each of its aircraft in a bid to reduce fuel consumption and cut carbon emissions. The carrier said it has become the first airline anywhere in the world to trial a system that requires thinner layers of paint to be applied in order to achieve the same finish. Rather than receiving two full coats, planes will now get a thin "grip" layer followed by a full second coat. That will be sufficient to shave what the airline called a "modest" 27kg off the weight of each aircraft. - Telegraph
US close
The end-of-year decline on US stock markets continued into 2025, with all three Wall Street benchmarks registering yet more losses and the Nasdaq hitting a five-week low.
Markets pushed higher shortly after the opening bell, but gains were erased by midday. With little in the way of corporate news, the focus was on a mixed batch of economic data, while bond yields stayed close to seven-month highs and oil prices surged.
The Dow fell for the fourth straight session, slipping 0.4%, while the losing streak on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq entered its fifth day, with both indices losing 0.2%.
For the Nasdaq in particular, the tech-heavy benchmark is now trading at its lowest mark (19,280.79) since 29 November.
In economic news, initial jobless claims fell to 211,000 in the week ended 28 December, down from a revised 220,000 (initial estimate: 219,000) the week before.
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