Haji-Ioannou continues easyJet divestment drive

The family of easyJet (U2, London Luton) founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou continues to divest from the budget carrier, having sold another 1.3% stake in the company. This has now reduced the family’s share in the company from 26.7% to 25.3%, decreasing the number of its ordinary shares to 115,737,821 out of 456,749,631, according to a regulatory filing of the London Stock Exchange on May 27, 2021, when easyJet shares closed at GBP0.989 pence (USD1.40). The Haji-Ioannou “family concert party”, consisting of easyGroup Holdings (the holding vehicle for Haji-Ioannou and his sister Clelia Haji-Ioannou) and brother Polys Haji-Ioannou (through his holding vehicle Polys Holdings Limited) remain the biggest shareholders of the airline, but they have gradually reduced their stake from around 33.7% last year through a share sale and after a placing by the airline. Haji-Ioannou founded easyJet in 1995, but during the pandemic, has criticised the carrier’s strategy, calling on it to scrap a large order for new Airbus jets. As previously reported, the Haji-Ioannou family gradually has been selling off small stakes in the airline amid a long-running face-off with the company’s executives. Meanwhile, easyJet on May 20 reported it had raised its liquidity during the pandemic to more than GBP5.5 billion pounds (USD7.7 billion), with a net debt position of GBP2 billion (USD2.8 billion) and investment-grade credit ratings. The airline said it was ready to ramp capacity up or down quickly depending on the unwinding of travel restrictions and expected demand, with the flexibility to maximise European opportunities. This ramp-up would involve increased variable costs during 3Q21 as it brought pilots and crew off furloughs in readiness for the peak summer season in 4Q21. Based on current travel restrictions in the markets, easyJet expected to fly about 15% of 2019 capacity levels in 3Q21, but expected capacity to increase from June onwards. Meanwhile, the company reported a half-year headline loss before tax of GBP701 million pounds (USD993.1 million) because of the impact of COVID-19 on travel, compared to GBP193 million (USD273.4 million) for the same period in 2020. The budget carrier said its passenger numbers plummeted 89.4% for the six months ending March 31, 2021, to 4.1 million. Capacity decreased by 85% to 6.4 million seats, representing 14% of same time 2019 capacity, while load factors were down 26.6% to 63.7%. Total revenue decreased by 90% to GBP240 million (USD340.1 million) compared to GPB2.3 billion (USD3.2 billion), with passenger revenue having decreased by 91% to GPB170 million (USD240.9 million) and ancillary revenue decreasing by 87% to GBP70 million (USD99.2 million). easyJet’s cost-cutting programme aimed to deliver about GBP500 million (USD708 million) of savings in FY2021, the company said.