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ISEQ regains 3,500 level this morning

Thursday, January 24 12:55:07

The ISEQ made some decent gains this morning after several days of lacklustre trading, regaining the 3,500 level.

By 12:45, the index was up 35.01 points to 3,514.01.

ISEQ equity indices enjoyed buoyant returns and were one of the top performing indices in 2012, according to the Irish Stock Exchange's quarterly statistics, published today.

The eight benchmark ISEQ equity indices all showed returns of more than 16pc in 2012.

A comparison of the ISEQ Overall index which grew by 17.1pc in 2012 to 3,397 shows the ISEQ was one of the top performing indices in Europe and outperformed other major equity indices in 2012 such as the FTSE100 (5.8pc), the S and P500 (13.4pc), the NYSE US100 (11.2pc) and the Eurozone benchmark index, the FTSE E300 (13.2pc).

The smaller to mid-sized companies sector performed very strongly, with the ESM index, the benchmark for the Enterprise Securities Market, delivering a return of 27.6pc in 2012 and the small cap index registering 18.1pc growth. The financial index rose by 37.2pc over the year.

With equity trades of 2.42m during 2012, trades in shares quoted on the ISE were at their second highest level ever recorded on the Irish market [2008: 2.52m trades].

The ISE has now recorded in its fifth consecutive year of over 2m trades.

Ryanair rival easyJet has this morning released its interim management statement for Q113 which implies a significant beat versus our current estimates for H113. Total revenue came in at £833m (+9.2pc yoy) as revenue per seat increased 3.9pc on a reported basis. This compares to our estimated range of £810-820m. On a constant currency basis, revenue per seat was up 8pc yoy. Non-seat revenue per seat was down 17.2pc on a reported basis, due to a decline in insurance revenues and roll off of the impact from the admin fee. As previously reported, capacity was up 5pc during the quarter with traffic growing by 6.2pc at a load factor of 88.6pc. Ryanair's shares rose 15c to E5.41.

CPL has reported H113 NFI (Net Fee Income) of E23.71m (+14pc yoy and 6pc ahead of our E22.5m estimate). EPS of 16.9 cent compared to our estimate of 16 cent and PBT of E5.95m was 7pc ahead of our forecasts. Gross margin was broadly flat at 14.7pc while the conversion ratio (Gross profits to Operating profits) improved by 420bps to 24.5pc which was a function of growth in permanent placements and an on-going focus on costs. Shares in the firm rose 8c to E4.30.