IAG, Armadale and Irish Continental Group

“The FTSE100 slipped back from record highs and started the year in negative territory following on from the weaker performance for US stocks on Friday,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

“International Airlines Group’s shares edged higher in early trading after it confirmed it is buying assets of Austrian airline NIKI, which was formerly part of the Air Berlin group. The assets include up to 15 A320 family aircraft and an attractive slot portfolio at various airports including Vienna, Dusseldorf, Munich, Palma and Zurich. NIKI was the most financially viable part of Air Berlin and its focus on leisure travel makes it a great fit with IAG subsidiary Vueling. IAG’s shares were up by more than 0.9%.

“Africa-focused Armadale Capital’s shares rose after it confirmed positive results from test work carried out on a bulk sample from the Mahenge Liandu graphite project in Tanzania. The high purity concentrates achieved from the bulk sample have highlighted the attractive metallurgy of the project and follow previous test work which confirmed that concentrates were readily upgraded to suit the lithium-ion and expandable graphite markets. Armadale’s shares were up by over 4.1%.

“Irish Continental Group has underscored its confidence in its markets by ordering a new €165.2m cruise ferry from German yard Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesselschaft. The new ship will be the largest cruise ferry in the world in terms of vehicle capacity when it is delivered in 2020. The ferry is being built specifically for Irish Ferries' Dublin-Holyhead services but it will meet Ice Class specification which allows for a wide geographic area of operation. ICG’s shares edged 0.09% lower in early trading.”

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