FTSE 250 movers: Wizz soars on passenger numbers; Housebuilders up on rising prices

FTSE 250: 19,455.66 +0.16%.

Low-cost airline Wizz Air carried 4,927,076 passengers in April, it said in its monthly update on Tuesday, representing a 32.3% increase compared to the same month in 2022.

The FTSE 250 company, headquartered in Budapest with its UK base at Luton, reported a load factor of 90.9% for the month, up from 83.5% year-on-year.

Its capacity also increased by 21.4% in April 2023 compared to April 2022, with 5,418,024 seats available.

Looking at its carbon dioxide emissions, the airline reported 447,788 tonnes of CO2 emissions in April, representing a 27.8% increase compared to April last year.

However, Wizz Air reduced its CO2 grams per passenger kilometre by 10% year-on-year, with 51.3 CO2 grams per passenger kilometre recorded for April.

On the corporate front, Wizz Air said it continued to grow its network and improve its customer offering in April, including announcing a £5 million investment in biofuel company Firefly, marking its first equity investment in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) research and development.

“The investment seeks to enable a supply of SAF to Wizz Air operations from 2028, receiving up to 525,000 tonnes over 15 years,” the board said in its statement.

“Wizz Air has signed a memorandum of understanding with Cepsa, a leading international company committed to sustainable mobility and energy, for the supply of SAF from 2025.

“The MoU gives Wizz Air the opportunity to purchase SAF to supply the airline's route network across Spain.”

Wizz Air said it also announced the addition of one more aircraft to the Kutaisi, Georgia base.

“A total fleet of four aircraft will increase frequencies and add another destination to a network of routes to and from Georgia's second largest city,

“Wizz Air inaugurated first flights from Sofia, Bulgaria and Naples, Italy to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, along with connecting Rome, Italy to Cairo, Egypt and adding more destinations from Brasov, Romania to the UK and Germany.”

On home shores, figures released by Nationwide showed that house prices edged higher in April following seven consecutive months of declines.

House builders benefited as home prices ticked up 0.5% on the month following a 0.7% drop in March, to an average of £260,441. On the year, meanwhile, house prices fell 2.7% in April following a 3.1% fall the month before.

Nationwide chief economist Robert Gardner said that while annual house price growth remained negative, "there were tentative signs of a recovery" with the monthly uptick.

"April’s monthly increase follows seven consecutive declines and leaves prices 4% below their August 2022 peak," he noted.

"Recent Bank of England data suggests that housing market activity remained subdued in the opening months of 2023, with the number of mortgages approved for house purchase in February nearly 40% below the level prevailing a year ago, and around a third lower than pre-pandemic levels. However, in recent months industry data on mortgage applications point to signs of a pickup.

"This also chimes with the recent shifts in consumer sentiment. While confidence remains subdued by historic standards (as shown in the chart below), people’s views of their own financial position over the next twelve months, and general economic conditions in the year ahead, have both improved markedly in recent months. If inflation falls sharply in the second half of the year, as most analysts expect, this would likely further bolster sentiment, especially if labour market conditions remain strong."

He said that in turn, this would also be likely to support a modest recovery in housing market activity. However, any upturn is likely to remain "fairly pedestrian", as it will take time for household finances to recover, since average earnings have been failing to keep pace with inflation.

In equity markets, Vistry and Bellway were both higher on the news.

Carnival advanced on positive read-across from Norwegian Cruise Line, which on Monday lifted its annual profit forecast and posted better-than-expected first-quarter results.

FTSE 250 - Risers

PureTech Health (PRTC) 221.00p +5.49%

Carnival (CCL) 682.20p +4.25%

FirstGroup (FGP) 116.40p +3.56%

Investec (INVP) 457.10p +3.11%

Hilton Food Group (HFG) 697.00p +2.80%

Darktrace (DARK) 287.90p +2.78%

Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 3,105.00p +2.78%

Quilter (QLT) 87.40p +2.70%

Vistry Group (VTY) 802.50p +2.56%

Bellevue Healthcare Trust (Red) (BBH) 156.00p +2.50%

FTSE 250 - Fallers