EasyJet passenger numbers up in May, Vodafone and Afrimax team up

London’s FTSE 100 was expected to open 31 points higher than Friday’s close at 6,240.

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Passenger numbers at low cost carrier easyJet rose 5.7% in May to 6.86m despite 173 cancellations due to French air traffic control strikes and weather conditions.

Load factor for the month fell 0.1 percentage points to 91.5.

Year-on-year passengers were up 7.3% to 71.5m, while the load factor rose 0.2 percentage points to 91.4%.

Passenger numbers are classified as the number of earned seats flown. Earned seats include seats that are flown whether or not the passenger turns up because easyJet is a no-refund airline, and once a flight has departed a no-show customer is generally not entitled to change flights or seek a refund. Earned seats also include seats provided for promotional purposes and to staff for business travel.

Vodafone and Afrimax Group - 4G telecommunications operator in sub-Saharan Africa - have formed a non-equity partnership in Zambia.

Under the deal, the two companies will offer customers high speed 4G data services using the 'Vodafone Zambia' brand.

The roll out of Vodafone Zambia for consumers and businesses will include the opening of Vodafone branded retail stores and kiosks in key locations, bolstered by a network of distributors and resellers and offering a full range of 4G handsets and devices, the two companies said.

In the press

Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence party, has said a British vote to leave the EU would be the first step in what he hoped would be the disintegration of the bloc. In an interview with the Financial Times, the Eurosceptic MEP’s comments onEurope's future are some of his most hostile to date and emphasise the high stakes in the referendum on June 23. – Financial Times

Sir Philip Green has made no new approach to pensions authorities about restructuring the BHS pension scheme, it has emerged, despite claims he was trying to broker a last-minute deal. The retail tycoon, who is due to face a grilling from MPs next week, was said to be “desperately trying” to draw up a restructuring plan that would secure a better deal for pension scheme members than if the scheme was bailed out by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF). – Telegraph

Labour is considering backing the idea of a universal basic income – a radical transformation of the welfare state that would ditch means-tested benefits in favour of a flat-rate payment. John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, who is keen to find policies to match his slogan of a “new economics,” will appear at the launch of a report on the proposal from the leftwing campaign group Compass in the House of Commons on Monday evening. – Guardian

Mike Ashley will go before MPs to “defend the good name” of Sports Direct on Tuesday in a change of plan just days after he said he would defy a parliamentary summons. The billionaire founder of the retail chain has written to the Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) committee to say that he had a change of heart after careful consideration over the weekend. – Guardian

Sir Martin Sorrell is facing a shareholder rebellion over his £70 million pay package as chief executive of WPP, with a significant minority of investors expected to vote against the advertising group’s remuneration report on Wednesday. Two proxy advisory firms, Pirc and ShareSoc, are advising investors in the company to oppose the remuneration report, while another, ISS, is recommending only “qualified support” for the report. – The Times

US close

Wall Street finished the week on a slightly down note following the release of a much weaker than expected monthly US Jobs report that some economists said put paid to any hopes that the central bank might hike rates in June or July.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.18% or 31.50 points to 17,807.06, the S&P 500 declined 0.29% or 6.13 points to 2.099.13 - to end the week essentially flat - and the Nasdaq lost 0.58% or 28.85 points to finish the day at 4,942.52.

Life insurers and banks were the worst performing industry groups, with the Philadelphia/KBW gauge of lenders´ shares dropping 2.25% to 69.79, alongside an outsized ten basis point drop in the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note to 1.70%.