Ryanair looking at big first quarter loss, Mitchells & Butlers extends waiver with lenders

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 95 points higher on Monday, having closed up 1.01% at 5,799.77 on Friday.

Stocks to watch

Budget carrier Ryanair said coronavirus travel bans would lead to a €200m first quarter loss. The company on Monday reported full year post-tax profits of €1bn, up 13 per cent. Revenue rose 4% in the 12 months to March 31 to €8.5bn. “The group expects to record a loss of over €200 million in quarter one, with a smaller loss expected in quarter two (peak summer) due to a substantial decline in traffic from Covid-19 groundings,” Ryanair Holdings said.

Mitchells & Butlers said the waiver agreed with its lenders to avoid a breach of its financing terms had been extended for three weeks. The FTSE 250 company announced the waiver to 15 May in mid-April because the closure of its pubs and restaurants during the coronavirus might cause a breach of its financing arrangements. "Mitchells & Butlers announces today that the temporary waiver it has been granted, as previously announced, against possible technical default due to enforced closure of the business has been extended to 8 June," the company said in a statement.

AstraZeneca, alongside its partner Daiichi Sankyo, announced on Monday that ‘Enhertu’, or trastuzumab deruxtecan, has been granted breakthrough therapy designation in the United States. The FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals giant said the designation was for the treatment of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, whose tumours have a HER2 mutation and with disease progression on or after platinum-based therapy. It also announced that ‘Bevespi Aerosphere’ , or glycopyrronium and formoterol fumarate, has been approved in China as a maintenance treatment, to relieve symptoms in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

Newspaper round-up

The boss of Heathrow has urged the government to develop plans to restart travel between “low-risk countries” as global lockdown measures are eased. John Holland-Kaye, chief executive of the busiest airport in Britain, said the UK should adopt a risk-based approach to flights and warned that the UK economy will suffer if blanket travel restrictions continue. He also backed the idea of “immunity passports” to allow people who have already had Covid-19 to travel more freely. - Guardian

School leavers and graduates hoping to enter the labour market in Britain this year will struggle to find employment as firms slash entry-level jobs by nearly a quarter owing to the coronavirus crisis, a report warns. All types of entry-level roles have been reduced this year by 23%, said the Institute of Student Employers (ISE), with the “volatile” jobs market forecast to shrink further as 15% of employers expect to scale back recruitment further in 2021. – Guardian

Housing groups in England are lobbying for a Scotland-style funding package for hundreds of small housebuilders who are struggling to access government-backed loans from banks. Industry bosses are pushing for a specific deal for builders as part of efforts to support cash-starved businesses in the sector through the pandemic. Discussions with government officials are in the early stages. Other emergency measures for the sector are also being explored. – Telegraph

Dividends worldwide are set to fall by at least 15 per cent this year, a drop of $213 billion, according to the latest barometer of company payouts. Janus Henderson, the fund manager that compiles the global dividend index, said that such a fall, cutting payouts to $1.2 trillion, was a best-case scenario. In the worst case, dividends could fall 35 per cent to $933 billion. – The Times

Emirates Group looks poised to become the latest airline owner to cut jobs, with up to 30,000 positions at risk. The group is reviewing costs, and last night Bloomberg reported that a third of its 105,000 staff could go. – The Times

US close

Wall Street equities finished in the green on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average managing gains of 0.25% to 23,685.42.

The S&P 500, meanwhile, was ahead 0.39% at 2,863.70, while the Nasdaq Composite was 0.79% higher at 9,014.56.