Budget airline easyJet has hailed solid trading in the final quarter as demand was boosted by strikes at rivals Ryanair and British Airways.
It said it expects profit before tax for the year to September to be at the top end of company forecasts - between £420 million and £430 million.
EasyJet said it delivered an 8.6% surge in passenger numbers to 96 million for the year after it increased its capacity by more than 10%.
READ MORE: Tourism plan to tackle Brexit skills shortage
However, total revenue per seat slipped by around 2.7% as airlines pulled prices down due to heavy consolidation in the sector.
In the second half of the year, total revenue per seat only decreased by 0.8% as it benefited from increased demand due to the strikes by Ryanair and BA pilots.
EasyJet's cost performance remained strong during the fourth quarter, despite "difficult disruption" in the sector during the period as tour operator Thomas Cook collapsed.
Rises in fuel costs, increased capacity and the weakness in the pound resulted in a 12% jump in the headline costs for the full year, the airline said.
READ MORE: Tunnock’s expands
Chief executive Johan Lundgren said: "EasyJet has continued to perform in line with expectations, despite challenging market conditions.
"As a result of our self-help initiatives and the increased demand due to disruption at British Airways and Ryanair, we anticipate achieving headline profit before tax for the full year 2019 of between £420 million and £430 million.
"We have continued to invest in operational resilience, with the programme successfully reducing the impact of disruption on our operations."
Hollywood Bowl Group has seen shares push higher after it said new openings and refurbishments helped to drive profits ahead of expectations.
The entertainment business said it expects pre-tax profit for the year to September 30 to have risen by more than 10%, "slightly ahead" of market forecasts.
READ MORE: Commercial grouse shooting ‘unlikely to return to Langholm Moor’
The company welcomed a "strong performance" for the year, as it was boosted by its significant investment programme.
Total revenue for the year jumped 7.7%, while like-for-like revenue growth increased by 5.5%.
The group, which runs 60 ten-pin bowling sites across the UK, said it has made progress with its "customer-led strategy" over the year.
Recruiters PageGroup and Robert Walters saw shares tumble after laying bare the impact of Brexit and global political uncertainty on the jobs market.
PageGroup shares fell 7%, having opened as much as 15% lower after warning over annual earnings as profit growth slowed amid "heightened political and macro-economic challenges".
The firm reported a 2.1% rise in gross profit in the third quarter to £216.7 million, down sharply from the 7.4% growth seen in the previous three months.
Shares in fellow recruiter Robert Walters were also 7% lower after it cautioned that annual pre-tax profits are expected to flatline, blaming Brexit and political uncertainty elsewhere globally.
It revealed that UK gross profits tumbled 11% to £24.8 million in the three months to September 30, hit by weak confidence among employers and candidates as Brexit takes its toll.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article