Tonight:
4°c
Michael O'Leary will now be able to afford to go to the loo on his own Ryanair planes — millions of times over, in fact — after today announcing he has sold five million shares in his airline.
Alternatively, the chief executive of the budget carrier could probably pick up a couple of decent racehorses, having collected €18.75 million (£16.5 million) through the share sale. He still owns 60 million shares or 4% of the company.
O'Leary picked his timing selling out on Friday, with the shares at a 15-month high, as today Ryanair's shares were in reverse, slipping 11.5 cents to €3.64. The airline will start charging passengers £1 to spend a penny on short-haul flights. It is also considering forcing queasy fliers to pay for sickbags.
Last week, Ryanair reported its first annual loss swinging from €481 million profit to losses of €169 million because of higher fuel costs and its unsuccessful takeover bid for rival Aer Lingus.
A Ryanair spokesman said that it was part of O'Leary's plans gradually to reduce his stake. He last sold shares in 2005, pocketing £25.8 million from the move, and also cut his holding in 2003, in part to pay for his wedding to Dublin banker Anita Farrell.
Shares in London started the week on the back foot. The FTSE sank 51.96 points to 4386.6 as the strengthening dollar weighed on commodity stocks. Investors were also pocketing profits from Friday's mining rally in response to Rio Tinto's cash call and its deal with arch-rival BHP Billiton.
Rio was off 128p at 2873p, BHP dropped 74p to 1481p while Vedanta Resources dived 111p to 1557p and Anglo American lost 99p to 1758p.
Many companies may have benefited from the Obama bounce, but BAE Systems certainly isn't one of them. Goldman Sachs today advised clients to dump the defence giant's shares and slashed its price target from 400p to 330p, warning that BAE will suffer as both Washington and London rein in defence spending.
President Obama last month announced major cuts to defence budgets this year and next, especially for the army. Goldman also reckons that UK defence spending is almost certain to be cut after the next general election.
The City big gun also advises selling the traditionally defensive stock as its market experts believe the rally in cyclical stocks will continue. The analysts' gloom pushed BAE's shares down 61⁄4p to 3331⁄4p.
Thomas Cook, the package holidays group, continued its retreat, falling 4½p to 210p after the German government rejected parent company Arcandor's request for state aid. Arcandor, which holds a 52.8% stake in Thomas Cook, has said that it could file for insolvency today if it did not receive help from Berlin.
German finance minister Peer Steinbrück refused to rule out a bankruptcy for Arcandor. The fall came despite Goldman Sachs upping its rating on Thomas Cook's shares from sell to neutral. The broker has raised its price target from 224p to 240p, factoring in a 10% discount given the overhang arising from the uncertainty over Arcandor's financial position. But Goldman warns that rising unemployment and tightening belts are likely to eat into earnings next year.
Among small-caps, Addax Petroleum, the Middle East and Africa-focused oil and gas explorer, jumped 162p to 2175p on reports that China's biggest oil refiner is taken a shine to the company. News from Beijing is that Sinopec is preparing a bid of up to $8 billion (£5.1 billion). Addax has a market capitalisation of just £3.4 billion.
Rank put on 1⁄4p to 633⁄4p after the High Court ruled that the bingo hall and casino operator is entitled to a £62 million VAT refund from the taxman.
