By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Ryanair Holdings PLC was among top
advancers in an otherwise weak European stock market on Monday,
after Europe's largest discount airline reported a 152% surge in
first-quarter profit.
Shares of the carrier (RYAAY) climbed 2.5%, marking the first rise in four days.
The solid quarterly report from Ryanair comes after a rough year
marked by surprise profit warnings. The airliner now promised it
would pay a special dividend of 520 million euros ($698 million),
or 37.50 euro cents per share.
Rebecca O'Keeffe, head of investment at stockbroker Interactive
Investor, cautioned in a note, however, that "the airline industry
is more exposed to geopolitical risk than many sectors, so
considerable caveats are included in their forecast numbers."
Rival budget airline easyJet PLC added 0.9%, after Citigroup
lifted the shares to buy from neutral.
Also in London, Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC put on 2.7% after
the company said it will pursue a spinoff of its pharmaceutical
unit to focus more on its core consumer health and hygiene
business.
The gains weren't enough, however, to lift the U.K.'s FTSE 100
index, which ended down by 0.1% at 6,788.07.
Elsewhere, most national benchmarks fell after weak U.S. housing
sales pushed down U.S. markets. Germany's DAX 30 index dropped 0.5%
to 9,598.17, while Italy's FTSE MIB index lost 0.6% to 20,939.08.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.2% to close at 341.34.
But France's CAC 40 index climbed 0.3% to 4,344.77. The Paris
benchmark was partly buoyed by dairy maker Danone SA , which added
0.9% after news it is in talks with U.S. pharmaceutical group
Hospira Inc. (HSP) to sell its medical nutrition business. The deal
could be worth $5 billion and would mark the latest transaction in
a wave of deals designed to sidestep U.S. corporate taxes.
Publicis Groupe SA gave up 3% in France after Citigroup
downgraded the advertising company to sell from neutral.
Outside the main indexes in Europe, shares of Bankia SA put on
1.3% after the Spanish lender said second-quarter net profit nearly
doubled compared with a year earlier as loan losses fell.
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