Shares in travel firm Saga (SAGA) slump as it warns Brexit will hit profits. Company that caters to over 50s says Brexit has put ‘clear dampener’ on holiday sales. Shares in Saga, which specialises in travel and insurance for the over 50s, slumped after the company slashed its dividend and warned profits would be hit by Brexit and lower insurance margins. Lance Batchelor, the chief executive, said travel bookings to Europe this year were down 8% from a year earlier. “Brexit is putting a clear dampener on customers’ willingness to commit to holidays in 2019,” he said. Saga shares fell 35% to 67.7p after hitting a record low of 64.1p in early trading. It cut its final dividend to 1p a share from 6p a share last year. The company, which has 2.1 million customers, fell into the red with a loss before tax of £134.6m for the year to 31 January, after writing down goodwill by £310m. Its underlying profit before tax was £180.3m; this year it expects it to fall to between £105m and £120m.
Superdry’s new bosses try to calm nerves after boardroom coup. Julian Dunkerton and Peter Williams address staff as fashion brand’s shares slide. Julian Dunkerton and Peter Williams, the returning chief executive and new chairman of Superdry (SDRY), addressed staff at the company’s head office on Wednesday as they tried to calm nerves after a boardroom coup which has wiped nearly £70m off the fashion brand’s market value in the last two days. Shares in the company fell 7.8% to 460.8p, following Tuesday’s 8.8% drop after the re-election of Dunkerton by a narrow majority of shareholders, sparking the resignation of the chief executive, Euan Sutherland, and all but one other director. Dunkerton, who co-founded the fashion label in 2003, was victorious after mounting a six-month campaign to get back in the boardroom at the struggling company.
Billionaire’s hedge fund bets £60m that shares in Ryanair Holdings (RYA) will fall. Short-selling position taken on April 2 is first of this size reported on budget airline. The hedge fund founded by the billionaire investor Ken Griffin has made a £60m bet that the share price of Ryanair will fall, the first time a short position of this size has been reported for the budget airline. Citadel Europe took a 0.56% short position in Ryanair on April 2, according to short-selling data reported to the Central Bank of Ireland. Ryanair’s market value was €12.9bn (£11bn) at the close of trading on Wednesday, meaning Citadel’s short position was equivalent to €72.4m. Citadel’s bet is the only short disclosed in Ryanair shares since 2012, when European regulations required all positions equivalent to 0.5% of shares to be published.
