5 October 2011 – trading update
In a dissapointing update Flybe has warned that September saw a significant slow down in sales across its UK domestic network. As a consequence, the total revenues for H1 were around 1% behind management’s expectations, with costs in line with expectations. The company had already noted that it believes that the UK market will be weak this Winter and advised that it would therefore de-risk the business by removing growth aircraft for the period. Forward ticket sales revenue for the H2 winter period slowed from early September and is currently up 1% year-on-year on broadly flat capacity. This is below management’s previous expectations.
Interim results are due out on 9 November and with the market capitalisation down to £45m there is plenty of scope for an uplift in the share price if there is any positive coverage of these numbers. The shares are a SPECULATIVE BUY.