Where the City’s movers and shakers get a few things off their chest. Today, it’s Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, with the pen, talking airline stocks, Big Tech earnings season and her summer listening picks

Turbulence at Ryanair, BA and Easyjet

Airline stocks are having a turbulent time. Just on Monday, shares in Ryanair plunged by as much as 15 per cent dragging Wizz Air, British Airways’ parent company IAG and Easyjet down with it. The low-cost carrier reported a 46 per cent slide in profit after tax to €360m in the first quarter, sharply below forecasts for a figure above €530m. Average fares in the three months to the end of June were down by 15 per cent and revenue per passenger fell by 10 per cent. CEO Michael O’Leary warned that second quarter fares would be materially lower than last summer’s fares. This resulted in Ryanair facing a series of price target cuts from the likes of Barclays, JP Morgan, HSBC and Citigroup yesterday.

But Ryanair certainly isn’t the only airline to be going through a difficult period. Deutsche Lufthansa issued a profit warning for the second quarter earlier this month and cut its 2024 earnings guidance for a second time. The airline said it was particularly affected by “the challenges posed by the negative market trend”. And Air France-KLM said it was........

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