A380 financing news sends Skymark soaring 20%
Skymark shares soared 19.7% in Tokyo, after the airline announced it will use cash to purchase A380s. The shares gained JPY150 yesterday - the daily limit - to close at JPY910, paring back some of the sharp losses made on 09-Nov when the stock fell by the daily limit following the initial A380 order.
Investors and analysts last week expressed grave concerns about how the LCC would fund the A380 order, which weighed heavily on Skymark shares. The share price recovered some of those losses yesterday as investors welcomed news that Skymark would finance its A380s through profits and leasing, rather than heading to the equity markets. According to reports, President Shinichi Nishikubo told media in Tokyo thatSkymark will fit the A380 with just 394 seats in a two-class configuration - the least-dense configuration announced for the A380 by far.
easyJet gains ahead of 3Q financials
easyJet (+1.3%) gained ahead of the release of its 3Q financials on Tuesday. Analysts are upbeat about the airline's performance, expecting a pre-tax profit of GBP154.5 million, a near three-fold increase over 3Q2009.
Cebu Pacific slips on strong sales increase
In Manila, Cebu Pacific (-1.3%) reported a 30.8% year-on-year increase in revenue to PHP21,520 million (USD491.5 million) in the three months ended 30-Sep-2010, bringing net profit for the first nine months of 2010 to PHP4800 million (USD109.6 million). The carrier transported 7.7 million passengers in the first nine months - a 37% year-on-year increase - including 6.1 million domestic and 1.6 million international passengers. Cebu stated it is on track to transport more than 10 million passengers in 2010.
Most other LCC stocks fell slightly during trade, led by Virgin Blue (-2.2%). The Brisbane-based carrier fell in line with the wider ASX200, which lost ground yesterday as the Aussie dollar fell back below parity with the US dollar.
Selected LCCs daily share price movements (% change): 15-Nov-2010
Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, Yahoo! Finance & Reuters