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Ryanair has reported a slump in quarterly profits and narrowed its expectations for annual earnings after some online travel sites stopped selling its flights.

The no-frills carrier said it made profit after tax of €15m (£12.8m) over the final three months of 2023, its third quarter, compared to the €211m it achieved in the same period a year previously.

A poll of analysts had expected a figure of €49m.

The sum came in lower despite a 7% rise in passenger numbers and fares being 13% higher.

Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers blamed the decision by some booking sites, including booking.com and Kayak, to remove it from their listings in early December.

The airline’s boss Michael O’Leary had warned earlier this year that the move, by firms he described as “pirates”, had harmed third quarter profitability as it had forced Ryanair to cut fares to fill seats.

Another factor behind the slump in profits was a 35% increase in fuel bills.

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Ryanair said it now expected an after-tax profit of between €1.85bn and €1.95bn for the 12 months to the end of March.

That is lower than its previous forecast of just over €2bn at the top of the range.

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Shares fell by 3% on the update.

“While traffic and fares were ahead of prior year, close-in Christmas/New Year loads and yields were softer than previously expected as Ryanair lowered prices in response to the sudden (but welcome) removal of flights from OTA (online travel agent) pirate websites in early Dec,” Ryanair said in a statement.

Ryanair, which had accused some firms of imposing additional charges on its customers and had initiated legal proceedings, said the impact would be temporary.

Chief financial officer Neil Sorahan told Reuters news agency on Monday it was already beginning to “fizzle out”.

Mr O’Leary told investors one risk remaining to Ryanair’s growth prospects was the possibility of further delays in the delivery of new, more fuel efficient, Boeing 787 MAX 8 aircraft.

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Ryanair has ‘confidence’ in Boeing

It expects to have seven fewer than anticipated in time for the summer peak and hopes MAX 10s will be with Ryanair during 2025.

Boeing was, last week, placed under manufacturing restrictions by US air regulators investigating the Alaska Airlines replacement door panel blowout of 5 January.

The measures prevent Boeing from increasing production rates.

“We continue to work closely with Boeing to minimise delivery delays and improve quality control in both Wichita and Seattle”, he said.

“While the recent MAX 9 grounding was a disappointing setback, we don’t expect it to affect the MAX 8 fleet or the MAX 10 certification.”

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Struggling Aston Martin steers into fresh pay controversy

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Struggling Aston Martin steers into fresh pay controversy

Aston Martin is steering a path towards a twin-pronged pay row with shareholders as it grapples with the impact of President Trump’s tariffs on car manufacturers.

Sky News can reveal that the influential proxy voting adviser ISS is urging investors to vote against both of Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings’ remuneration votes at next week’s annual general meeting.

The pay policy vote, which is binding on the company, has attracted opposition from ISS because it proposes significant increases to potential bonus awards to Adrian Hallmark, the company’s new chief executive.

“Concerns are raised regarding the increased bonus maximums, which are built upon competitively[1]positioned salary levels and do not appear appropriate given the company’s recent performance,” ISS said in a report to clients.

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Aston Martin is also facing a meaningful vote against its pay report for last year – which is on an advisory basis only – because of the salaries awarded to Mr Hallmark and other executive directors.

The company’s shares have nearly halved in the last year, and it now has a market value of little more than £660m.

Despite the ISS recommendation, Aston Martin will win the vote by virtue of chairman Lawrence Stroll’s 33% shareholding.

The luxury car manufacturer has had a torrid time as a public company and now faces the headwinds of President Trump’s tariffs blitz.

This week it said it would limit exports to the US to offset the impact of the policy.

Aston Martin did not respond to a request for comment ahead of next Wednesday’s AGM.

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Financial wellbeing platform Mintago lands £6m funding boost

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Financial wellbeing platform Mintago lands £6m funding boost

A financial wellbeing platform which counts the alcohol-free beer producer Lucky Saint among its clients has landed a £6m funding injection from a syndicate of well-known investors.

Sky News understands that Mintago, which was founded in 2019, will announce in the coming days that Guinness Ventures has jointly led the Series A round alongside Seed X Liechtenstein and Social Impact Enterprises.

Mintago, which also counts car rental firm Avis and Northumbrian Police among its customers, aims to help employees save and manage their money more effectively.

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A number of the start-up’s current investors, Love Ventures and Truesight Ventures, are also understood to have reinvested as part of the fundraising.

MINTAGO
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The company, which counts Lucky Saint and Avis among its users, has finalised a Series A funding round

The company was set up by Chieu Cao and Daniel Conti, and claims to offer more salary sacrifice schemes than any other UK provider.

It also provides independent financial advice, a service for finding lost pension pots, retail discounts and GP services.

“We realised that organisations are crying out for the same help we provide their staff,” Mr Conti said.

“The benefits of providing that support impact everyone.

“When a company improves their salary sacrifice benefits engagement, they can save thousands in National Insurance Contributions, but their employees save too, easing the strain on their finances.”

The new capital will be used to develop additional products using artificial intelligence, according to the company.

“Mintago is enabling its customers to become truly people-centric organisations by giving them the tools to support their employees’ financial wellbeing,” Mathias Jaeggi, a partner at Seed X Liechtenstein, said.

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iPhones sold in US will no longer come from China – as Apple reveals impact of Trump’s tariffs

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iPhones sold in US will no longer come from China - as Apple reveals impact of Trump's tariffs

Apple says devices sold in the US will no longer come from China, as the tech giant tries to mitigate the impact of Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Most iPhones will be sourced from India instead, with iPads coming from Vietnam, to prevent dramatic price rises for American consumers.

Unveiling financial results from January to March, the company said the US president’s escalating trade war has had a limited impact on its performance so far.

However, Apple CEO Tim Cook believes the tariffs will add £677m in costs during the current quarter – assuming Trump’s policies don’t change.

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Revenue for the first three months of the year stood at £71.8bn, with earnings of £18.6bn also beating analyst expectations.

High demand for iPhones during this period may have been driven by US shoppers rushing to make purchases before the new tariffs came into force.

But the full impact of any panic buying will only emerge when Apple reports its results from April to June later in the year.

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Apple’s reliance on Chinese factories to manufacture its iPhones meant the company was far more exposed to the impact of Trump’s trade war than others.

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Trump: Tariffs making US ‘rich’

After the president unveiled plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries – now largely paused for 90 days – Apple’s stock plunged by 23%, wiping out £582bn of value.

While its share price has recovered slightly, it remains 5% lower than before “Liberation Day”.

Growing tensions between Washington and Beijing are also having an impact on Apple’s sales in China, which fell 2.3% between January and March.

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Addressing the planned changes to manufacturing, Mr Cook added: “We have a complex supply chain. There’s always risk in the supply chain. What we learned some time ago was that having everything in one location had too much risk with it.”

Devices sold outside of the US will continue to be made in China.

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