Profits at Ryaniar expected to soar

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"2">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>The City will look for more details on how the new boss at Marks &&num;038&semi; Spencer plans to turn the retailer around&comma; profits at airline Ryanair are expected to soar despite recent terror attacks&comma; while top brass at Royal Dutch Shell will be wary of a rough ride over pay at the oil major&&num;8217&semi;s AGM&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>M&&num;038&semi;S&&num;8217&semi;s new boss Steve Rowe will be looked to for further details on his turnaround plan for the retailer&&num;8217&semi;s beleaguered clothing division when he reports full-year figures on Wednesday&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Rowe &&num;8211&semi; who took on the top job from Marc Bolland in April &&num;8211&semi; pledged to restore the fortunes of its general merchandise arm after reporting a 2&period;7&percnt; slide in like-for-like sales for the 13 weeks to March 26&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He branded the performance as &&num;8221&semi;unsatisfactory&&num;8221&semi; and has said he would remain in charge of the clothing business because he was &&num;8221&semi;personally committed&&num;8221&semi; to getting it right&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He has a task on his hands&comma; however&comma; given the dismal conditions for womenswear retailers in April&comma; with Next recently warning over profits after last month&&num;8217&semi;s cold weather&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It said the lacklustre figures could indicate a wider slowdown in consumer spending&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But despite the ongoing woes at the clothing division&comma; M&&num;038&semi;S&&num;8217&semi;s annual underlying pre-tax profits are expected to edge higher&comma; up 1&period;8&percnt; to £673 million&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This would mark the second full-year profits rise in a row after it halted a four-year run of falling earnings in the previous year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>M&&num;038&semi;S has been helped by robust performance from its food division&comma; which held like-for-like sales flat against tough conditions in the grocery sector amid a supermarket price war&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The chain has also been making efforts to cut sourcing costs in the general merchandise business&comma; which is helping push up profits&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But investors will be keen to hear more on Mr Rowe&&num;8217&semi;s plans for the group following his move to cull a raft of senior executives earlier this month&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He announced he will almost halve the number of senior executives from 20 to just 11 as part of a management reshuffle&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The group has also recently scored another coup for its clothing business in the fight to revive flagging sales by sealing a tie-up in February with TV presenter Alexa Chung to launch a fashion collection inspired by the company&&num;8217&semi;s extensive range&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Shore Capital analysts said they have faith in the new chief executive&comma; saying&colon; &&num;8220&semi;M&&num;038&semi;S is in good hands&comma; to our minds&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Budget airline Ryanair is expected to report a boost in full-year profits on Monday as it continues to cut prices to attract passengers in the wake of recent terror attacks&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The City expects to see the Dublin-based airline&&num;8217&semi;s annual profits after tax jump 44&percnt; to €1&period;3bn compared to a year ago&comma; as it drives down fares in the face of weakening demand caused by the atrocities in Brussels and Paris&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The impact of the recent EgyptAir plane crash may further weaken the appetite for international travel over the coming months&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The airline said in February profits after tax more than doubled in its third quarter to December 31&comma; up from €49m in 2014 to €103m last year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The carrier said average fares were down 1&percnt; to €40 in the three months to December 31&period; It also pencilled a fares fall of 6&percnt; for the fourth quarter&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It said it would deliver cheaper air fares by capitalising on record-low oil prices and passing down the savings made on its fuel hedges to consumers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald said&colon; &&num;8220&semi;Growth in the past few years has been exceptional and Ryanair&&num;8217&semi;s expansion plans are ambitious&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But the broker added&colon; &&num;8220&semi;We are concerned that earnings momentum may be difficult to maintain&comma; particularly as the persistently low fuel price is sucking more capacity into the market&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Earlier this month Ryanair boss Michael O&&num;8217&semi;Leary warned that the budget airline will be forced to scale back British investment if the country votes to leave the European Union&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He appeared on a platform with Chancellor George Osborne at Stansted Airport and announced the creation of 450 new jobs in Britain as part of a &dollar;1&period;4bn investment into the Ryanair&&num;8217&semi;s 13 UK bases&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But Mr O&&num;8217&semi;Leary said&colon; &&num;8220&semi;It is exactly this type of investment that will be lost to other competitor EU members if the UK votes to leave the European Union&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Last month&comma; rival easyJet has swung to a half-year loss after it said the recent terror attacks saw some passengers stay away and rivals stepped up the pace of competition&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The no-frills airline posted losses of £24m for the six months to the end of March against profits of £7m a year earlier&comma; but said its bottom line was hit by a £33m foreign exchange rate impact&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Bosses at Royal Dutch Shell will face shareholders at the group&&num;8217&semi;s annual general meeting on Tuesday amid concern over the chief executive&&num;8217&semi;s &&num;8220&semi;unacceptable&&num;8221&semi; £4m pay deal&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Investors have been urged to vote against the firm&&num;8217&semi;s remuneration report in protest at Ben van Beurden&&num;8217&semi;s pay for 2015&comma; even though it marked a significant reduction from the €24&period;2m he was paid in 2014 in the wake of plunging profits&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Shell&&num;8217&semi;s latest annual report revealed boss Mr van Beurden&&num;8217&semi;s total pay for last year was €5&period;6m &&num;8211&semi; a 77&percnt; fall on 2014 after the tumbling cost of crude took its toll on the group&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But shareholder advisory firm Pirc said he still earned 37 times the average employee&&num;8217&semi;s pay&comma; which it branded as &&num;8220&semi;unacceptable&&num;8221&semi;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Pirc added that his maximum annual bonus and potential rewards under the long-term shares scheme were also &&num;8220&semi;excessive&&num;8221&semi;&comma; at 245&percnt; of salary and 680&percnt; of salary respectively&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Shell &&num;8211&semi; which completed its mammoth &dollar;52&period;6bn takeover of gas rival BG Group in February &&num;8211&semi; saw annual earnings tumble to &dollar;3&period;8bn in 2015&comma; from &dollar;19bn in 2014&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It has remained under pressure since the year-end&comma; posting a 58&percnt; drop in first-quarter profits to &dollar;1&period;6bn as the falling oil price continues to hammer the sector&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But the first quarter figures were better-than-feared&comma; while Mr van Beurden said the BG merger had got off to a &&num;8220&semi;strong start&&num;8221&semi;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Shell is pushing ahead with plans to cut jobs and close offices following the BG merger and to offset lower oil prices&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It said it may close three offices&comma; including the former BG Group headquarters at Thames Valley Park&comma; Reading&semi; BG&&num;8217&semi;s offices at Albyn Place&comma; Aberdeen&semi; and Shell&&num;8217&semi;s Brabazon House office&comma; Manchester&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-691acdf95d60d">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; 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