EasyJet To Deliver Record Q4 Headline Pretax Profit, Achieves FY23 Financial Targets

easyJet Plc (ESYJY.PK,EZJ.L) said it expects fourth quarter headline profit before tax to be between 650 million pounds – 670 million pounds. Total group revenue is projected to be around 3.12 billion pounds with passenger revenue of 1.97 billion pounds. During fourth quarter, easyJet flew 28.6 million seats, a 9% increase on the same period last year. Load factor was 92%, flat with prior year. Passenger numbers in the quarter increased to 26.2 million from 24.3 million.

easyJet expects fiscal 2023 Group headline profit before tax to be between 440 million pounds and 460 million pounds with easyJet holidays contributing around 120 million pounds.

easyJet expects first quarter capacity to grow by approximately 15%. The company has launched new, and ambitious, medium-term targets, providing the building blocks to achieve a Group pretax profit per seat of between 7 to 10 pounds.

easyJet has also reached a proposed agreement with Airbus for an additional 157 aircraft order and a further 100 purchase rights.

The board plans to pay a dividend of 10% of fiscal 2023’s headline profit after tax, payable in early 2024. The expectation is that this will rise to 20% of headline profits after tax in fiscal 2024, payable in early 2025.

For more earnings news, earnings calendar, and earnings for stocks, visit rttnews.com.

Darktrace Q1 Revenue Climbs; Reiterates Annual Revenue View

Darktrace Plc (DARK.L), a British cyber security firm, on Thursday posted a rise in revenue for the first-quarter of 2024. In addition, the company has confirmed its full-year revenue outlook.

For the three-month period to September 30, revenue moved up by 28 percent to $161.6 million, from last year quarter.

At its fiscal 2024 constant currency rates, Darktrace’s annualized recurring revenue or ARR moved up by 26.9 percent to $658.4 million from last year.

The company said: “This sizeable constant currency ARR growth was supported by its multi-year contract structure, which moderated the effects of a stabilizing, but still challenging, macro-economic environment, and the temporary impacts of significant changes made across Darktrace’s Go-to-Market organization in the first quarter.”

For the first-quarter, Darktrace recorded an added net constant currency ARR of $21.1 million, a year-on-year decline of 21.6 percent.

Looking ahead, for full year 2024, the company has confirmed its expectations for year-over-year revenue growth of 22 percent to 23.5 percent, with an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 17 percent to 19 percent.

European Economic News Preview: Germany Inflation Data Due

Final inflation from Germany is the only major economic report due on Wednesday, headlining a light day for the European economic news.

At 2.00 am ET, Destatis is scheduled to issue Germany’s final consumer and harmonized prices for September. The flash estimate showed that consumer price inflation slowed to 4.5 percent, the slowest since February 2022, from 6.1 percent in August. The statistical office is expected to confirm the preliminary estimate.

At 3.00 am ET, Turkey’s statistical office publishes retail sales data for August. Sales had increased 31.0 percent on a yearly basis in July.

Pre-market Movers: ORTX, CMBM, GROM, RSVR, FEMY…

The following are some of the stocks making big moves in Thursday’s pre-market trading (as of 07.05 A.M. ET).

In the Green

Orchard Therapeutics plc (ORTX) is up over 97% at $15.95.
Grom Social Enterprises, Inc. (GROM) is up over 27% at $2.23.
Femasys Inc. (FEMY) is up over 24% at $2.85.
Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. (ACOR) is up over 22% at $14.19.
NKGen Biotech, Inc. (NKGN) is up over 17% at $5.80.
Global Net Lease, Inc. (GNL) is up over 14% at $10.00.
Sezzle Inc. (SEZL) is up over 12% at $13.00.
Golub Capital BDC, Inc. (GBDC) is up over 9% at $15.41.
Finward Bancorp (FNWD) is up over 6% at $22.09.
Ault Disruptive Technologies Corporation (ADRT) is up over 6% at $12.89.

In the Red

Cambium Networks Corporation (CMBM) is down over 32% at $5.34.
Reservoir Media, Inc. (RSVR) is down over 25% at $4.48.
MaxCyte, Inc. (MXCT) is down over 22% at $2.52.
AmeriServ Financial, Inc. (ASRV) is down over 15% at $2.20.
Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (SIRI) is down over 14% at $3.81.
Neoleukin Therapeutics, Inc. (NLTX) is down over 13% at $3.45.
Rivian Automotive, Inc. (RIVN) is down over 9% at $21.44.
Jin Medical International Ltd. (ZJYL) is down over 6% at $26.36.

Apollo Global To Acquire Restaurant Group Through Rock BidCo SPV

Apollo Global Management, Inc. (APO) announced on Thursday that it will acquire The Restaurant Group plc (RTN.L) or TRG through a special purpose vehicle, Rock BidCo Limited or Bidco in an all-cash transaction. The deal is valued around 506 million pounds with an enterprise value of 701 million pounds.

In September Restaurant Group’s Chairman Ken Hanna had announced his intention to step down for personal reasons.

Apollo is buying TRG as it believes that the restaurant group is a high quality and leading company in the casual dining market with an attractive portfolio of concepts and brands along with an experienced management team.

Under the acquisition terms, each TRG shareholder will receive 65 pence in cash for each scheme share held. This represents 34 percent to TRG’s closing share price of 48 pence per TRG Share on October 11 and 49 percent to the volume-weighted average price of 44 pence per TRG Share for the six-month period ended October 11.

“The Acquisition values TRG’s entire issued, and to be issued, ordinary share capital at approximately 506 million pounds on a fully diluted basis, and implies an enterprise value of 701 million pounds and a multiple of approximately 9 times TRG’s Adjusted EBITDA for the twelve months ended 2 July 2023,” the company said in a statement.

On Wednesday, Apollo shares closed at $89.29, down 0.56% on the New York Stock Exchange and Restaurant Group are currently trading at 66.12 pence up 36.77% in London.