The city is understood to be braced for another profit warning from Thomas Cook this week, as analysts warned that “any hopes of a good lates market had evaporated”.
Analyst Wyn Ellis, from broker Numis, has told clients that there was a “significant risk” the travel giant would give another warning about its profits when it reports its third-quarter results on Thursday.
The tour operator said in May that it expected to generate adjusted pre-tax earnings of between £310 million and £335 million, which was down from the group’s earlier estimate of up to £359 million.
In a note to investors, Ellis said: “Foreign exchange is likely to benefit Q3 and H2 [up to September 30] on translation, but we are cautious about underlying trading trends and believe any hopes of a good lates market have evaporated.”
He added that Numis feared the net result would be that Thomas Cook Group would discount “committed stock at unattractive prices" in the lates market.
“The impact on margins will not be fully apparent until the release of preliminary results, but we believe that there is a significant risk of a further warning regarding underlying profits in the [quarter three results], even if Thomas Cook Group has continued to "focus on margins rather than volume".
It follows weeks of uncertainty for the travel industry, caused by Brexit and terror attacks throughout Europe, as well as the failed military coup in Turkey.
Last week Lufthansa also sounded a profit warning, and IAG is expected to deliver a similar gloomy forecast when it delivers its results later this week.
Ryanair’s results this morning were slightly more positive, with the airline’s operating profit rising 6%.
However, O’Leary used the group’s results to again expressed the airline’s disappointment at the vote by the UK to leave the European Union, and confirmed Ryanair would “pivot” future growth away from the UK to EU airports over the next two years.