Michael O’Leary’s warning for EasyJet starts to sound prescient

With a market capitalisation of €4.24bn, EasyJet trades at less than half its pre-Covid price and a seventh of Ryanair’s

Michael O’Leary's prediction that EasyJet would be carved up may not be far off the mark. Photograph: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie
Michael O’Leary's prediction that EasyJet would be carved up may not be far off the mark. Photograph: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

Michael O’Leary predicted this month that Wizz Air’s days were numbered and that EasyJet would be carved up, with its Gatwick operations eventually bought by British Airways, and Paris and Geneva going to Air France-KLM.

Whatever about Wizz, the flurry of takeover speculation surrounding EasyJet suggests his prophecy may not be far off the mark. Reports that shipping giant MSC was weighing a bid sent EasyJet shares soaring 12 per cent.

MSC denied the story, but takeover speculation has lingered.

With a market capitalisation of £3.7 billion (€4.24 billion), EasyJet trades at less than half its pre-Covid price, leaving it cheap, slot-rich and vulnerable.

The airline has clawed back profits and passengers since Covid, but rivals have raced ahead. Ryanair’s fleet is almost twice the size of EasyJet’s.

More importantly, with shares trading near record highs, Ryanair’s market value is seven times larger – a measure of how far EasyJet has fallen behind the airline it once hoped to rival.

O’Leary’s grim assessment – that EasyJet will survive only as parts – may have sounded like his usual mischief, but Europe’s airlines are consolidating. Whether it’s a shipper or a flag carrier, EasyJet’s next owner may already be circling, suggesting O’Leary may have called the weather right on this one.

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Proinsias O'Mahony

Proinsias O'Mahony

Proinsias O’Mahony, a contributor to The Irish Times, writes the weekly Stocktake column