easyJet losses rise on weaker sterling meanwhile Vodafone full-year sales slip

A record all-time high for the FTSE 100 yesterday with the Big Board hitting 7,454, up 19 points. The uptick was led by a rash of mining stocks including Glencore, Anglo American and BHP Billiton.

This morning the euro is up 0.63% to 1.10065 against the dollar while the pound is up 0.15% to 1.2913. The market will be looking hard at new UK CPI data at 9.30am.

EU Balance of Trade figures arrive at 10am; there’s also new Housing Starts data from the US at 1.30pm.

• UK FTSE 100 7,454.37 +0.26%
• Dow 20,981.94 +0.41%
• S&P 500 2,402.32 +0.48%
• Nasdaq 6,149.67 +0.46%
• DAX 30 12,807.04 +0.29%
• CAC 40 5,417,40 +0.22%
• Gold 1,233.70 +0.30%
• Oil WTI 49.05 +0.39%

Let’s take to the air initially with easyJet. While total sales are up 3.2% to £1.8bn revenue per seat slips 4.9% to £48.80 for the six months up to March. Pre-tax losses came in at £212m.

Boss Carolyn McCall claims the numbers are “resilient”. The £212m headlines loss includes the impact of Easter shifting into the second half of the year, plus a negative net currency hit of £82m.

“Headline cost per seat,” says easyJet, “excluding fuel at constant currency for the full year and at normal levels of disruption is expected to increase by around 1%, which better than initially expected.

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Next, a €6.1bn loss for Vodafone for the full year. Total group revenue slips 4.4% to €47.6bn while Q4 organic service revenue is up 1.5%.

Vodafone’s final dividend per share climbs 2% to 10.03 euro cents. As far as 2018 financial guidance goes, Vodafone predicts organic adjusted EBITDA growth of +4-8%.

“We expect to sustain our momentum,” says CEO Vittorio Colao, “in the coming financial year, generating free cash flow of around €5bn. Our confidence in the outlook is demonstrated by another 2% increase in our dividend."

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Lastly a six-month trading update from housebuilder Crest Nicholson. Trading is in line with expectations and CN claims it’s on track to see a 10% climb in revenues for the full year to 31 October.

Average selling prices have risen: asking prices in the first six months were 12% higher at £418k (2016: £372k) it says. Sales have been supported by an increase in outlet numbers, averaging 49 for the first half of 2017 (2016: 44).

“There has been some public comment on leasehold sales in recent months,” says the housebuilder. “It is the Group's general approach to sell houses on a freehold basis and, as a result, very few leasehold houses have been sold.”