Ryanair to delist ? *

Michael O’Leary was as baffling as ever during an earnings call at which the airline’s quarterly results were announced.

Citing diminishing interest in its shares from UK investors post-Brexit the ardent European whose major business is ex-UK passengers was clear in his intentions "I think we will probably delist sometime in the next six months," he said.

According to Ryanair, as part of the EU/UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement which came into effect on 1 January of this year, the voting rights of non-EU (including the UK) shareholders have been restricted in that they are no longer allowed to buy Ryanair ordinary shares (although they can buy American Depository Receipts which are listed on the US Nasdaq).

"The migration away from the London Stock Exchange (LSE) is consistent with a general trend for trading in shares of EU corporates post-Brexit and is, potentially, more acute for Ryanair as a result of the long-standing prohibition on non-EU citizens purchasing Ryanair's ordinary shares being extended to UK nationals following Brexit," the airline said in a statement. "The Board of Ryanair is now considering the merits of retaining the Standard listing on the LSE."

Aside from its Nasdaq listing, Ryanair also has a primary listing on the Euronext Dublin bourse. It said that despite depressed demand for its stock from UK investors, it did foresee its EU shareholding growing over time.

Also see Ryanair's October in last week's BTN.

www.ryanair.com

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Philip Zeus, Dublin

What next from the fertile brain of O’Leary. I gather that his largest operation is still out of the UK.