Ryanair was the star of an otherwise dull Irish market, where turnover was generally low as shares nudged ahead to just short of the market's recent high.
Ryanair's second-quarter profits of €56.1 million and earnings of 12.9 cents per share were well ahead of the €51 million and 12 cents forecasts from the company's own broker Davy. As a result, Ryanair surged ahead 40 cents to a new high of €10.00 in turnover of just over 830,000 shares. Trading in the stock remained buoyant in New York where the ADRs (American depositary receipts - certificates traded in the US markets which represent an interest in shares of a foreign company) were trading more than $1 1/2 higher on $43 1/2 as the Dublin market closed.
The biggest volume on the day was in Bank of Ireland which dealt up 19 cents to €9.17 in heavy turnover. British bank shares are currently trading on an average of 12 times 2001 earnings and this sort of multiple for Bank suggests a share price of around €10.65. AIB was 12 cents higher on €12.67 while First Active was up three cents on €2.13 - the bank confirmed a buyback on Monday of 27,272 shares at prices between €2.10 and €2.14.
Industrial shares were firmer with CRH up seven cents on €18.32 and Smurfit three cents higher on €2.12. Eircom drifted one cent Viridian was 22 cents lower in Dublin on €12.21 and lost 13p to £7.34 sterling in London after UBS Warburg cuts its rating for the stock from "strong buy" to "buy". Technology stocks were quiet with Baltimore unchanged on £5.15 ahead of third-quarter results today. Revenue growth around 15 per cent is expected by the market.
