EasyJet shares crashed after it said Brexit cost it £90 million

easyjet_01

EasyJet

Shares in budget airline easyJet crashed on Thursday after the company reported that the slump in the pound since Britain voted to the leave the European Union has cost it "around £90 million."

In a trading update released on Thursday morning, the company says it took a massive hit from the crash in the pound against the dollar. So-called "adverse" currency movements will cost easyJet £90 million, the update says.

Not only is that a huge cost, it is also around £35 million more than the airline had expected Brexit to cost it in currency movements.

The pound was trading above $1.50 just hours before the results of the June 23 referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union. But sterling crashed to a 31-year low against the dollar after the Brexit vote won. 

As a result, easyJet now expects full-year profits to be around £490-£495 million for the year ending September 30. That's around £25 million lower than the analyst consensus of £516 million. easyJet made a £686 million profit in 2015.

Investors took flight on the news, selling shares rapidly. The stock tumbled by as much as 8.5% at the open, dropping to a low of £9.275 at around 8:30 a.m. BST (3:30 a.m. ET). It recovered a little over the course of the day, ending down by 6.7%. That put it right at the bottom of the FTSE.

Here's the chart of today's performance:

Screen Shot 2016 10 06 at 16.57.32

EasyJet

Commenting on the results, easyJet's CEO Carolyn McCall said:

"The current environment is tough for all airlines, but history shows that at times like this the strongest airlines become stronger. That is why we will continue to invest for the long-term success of the business, establishing even stronger market positions, delivering excellent customer service and establishing new revenue opportunities for the future."

easyJet has been one of the biggest casualties in Britain's financial markets since the vote to leave the EU, crashing from more than £15 per share on the day of the vote to less than £9.40 now — a fall of around 38%.

Mike van Dulken of Accendo Markets noted in an email earlier on Thursday, that fall was driven by fears about "how a budget airline so reliant on European destinations would work with a UK HQ post-Brexit."

Here's how its post-Brexit vote fall looks:

easyjet since the referendum

EasyJet

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See Also:

• Sterling is struggling to keep its head above water

• The pound has already fallen off one cliff, but it is about to fall off another

• A fight is brewing between two government departments over Brexit

SEE ALSO: REPORT: EasyJet is thinking about moving its HQ out of the UK