Entain NGR revenue ticks up in Q3, easyJet to report annual losses of £170m to £190m

London pre-open

The FTSE 100 was called to open 11 points lower at 6,815.

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Low-cost airline easyJet said it expected to report annual pre-tax losses of £170m -£190 million as it flew 88% of pre-Covid capacity in the fourth quarter.

The company said it expected to fly around 20 million seats in Q1 of FY23, more than 30% up year on year with UK capacity during the peak travel periods, such as October half term and Christmas week, back to pre-pandemic levels.

Ladbrokes owner Entain said it was on track to post full-year 2022 net gaming revenue of more than $1.3bn as it reported a 2% jump in third-quarter NGR.

Chief executive officer Jette Nygaard-Andersen said: "Our business continues to perform well with good underlying momentum across the group, including in BetMGM.

“This illustrates the effectiveness of our growth strategy, the unique capabilities of the Entain platform, and the underlying strength of our diversified global business.”

Newspaper round-up

If the government raises benefits in line with earnings rather than inflation next year, it would drastically cut the incomes of poorer working-age families, while saving less than a tenth of the cost of recent tax cuts, a leading economic thinktank has calculated. Such a change, which would mean a significant real-terms cut given that wages are rising at 5.5% with inflation close to 10%, could see the effective income of some families reduced by up to £1,000 a year, the Resolution Foundation said. – Guardian

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has told governments to embrace a new era of austerity to tackle stubbornly high inflation, in a move that could boost Liz Truss’s plan to cut benefits to balance the budget. The IMF said it was important that central banks and governments worked closely to ensure borrowing costs and debt levels remained under control. – Telegraph

Administrators of the UK arms of Greensill Capital have recorded nearly £34 million in fees and expenses, new filings reveal, making it one of the priciest insolvency jobs of recent years. Insolvency practitioners from Grant Thornton said that they had incurred £4.4 million of time costs between March and September on Greensill Capital UK, bringing cumulative time costs for the 18 months of the administration to about £23 million. – The Times

Close to £1 billion was knocked off the value of the biggest housebuilders yesterday amid the first signs that demand for homes is falling rapidly. Barratt Developments, which builds more houses in Britain than any other developer, warned that its sales have fallen sharply in recent weeks as mortgage rates have surged. – The Times

US close

Stocks on Wall Street closed a little lower on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq ended down 0.1%, while the S&P 500 fell 0.3%.