Ryanair shares take big knock

SHARES in Ryanair fell the most in four years in Dublin trading yesterday after Citigroup cut the airline’s profit and share-price estimates, citing oil prices and the pound’s drop against the euro.

Ryanair shares fell 32 cent, or 8.2%, to €3.60 in the biggest drop since January 28, 2004. The stock has fallen 35% over the past 12 months and is at the lowest since August 25, 2006, valuing the Dublin-based airline at €5.37 billion.

Citigroup scaled back Ryanair’s earnings-per-share estimates for the year through March 2009 by 14% and for 2010 by 6%, London-based analysts including Andrew Light said yesterday.

They raised the earnings estimate for this fiscal year by 2%.

Citigroup also cut its estimate for Ryanair’s share price to €4.70 from €6.15.

Yesterday Ryanair said it will make Bournemouth, in southern England, its 24th base and add five routes from the airport.

Ryanair said it will base one Boeing Co 737 plane at the airfield and add five European destinations.

The new routes are to Wroclaw, Poland; Nantes, France and Malaga, Murcia and Palma in Spain. The airline also said it will double capacity on its Bournemouth-Glasgow, Scotland, route.

The carrier also serves Dublin; Marseille, Milan, Pisa and Alicante and Barcelona from Dorset on the English south coast.

Ryanair also said it may build traffic in Bratislava, Slovakia, by up to 40%.

“It’s quite realistic to have between 700,000 and 800,000 passengers, depending on how many routes will be open,” said Tomasz Kulakowski, marketing manager for central and eastern Europe.