February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The move sees the Nasdaq continuing to shed technology stocks and attempting to attract the older industrial and consumer stocks that it would once have shunned.
The Nasdaq comprises 100 of the largest non-financial companies.
Ryanair is one of 15 new companies to join. The 15 old stocks that were dropped were fallen tech stocks.
The company welcomed the move, saying that it would bring the airline greater visibility and wider appeal to investors.
“We are a growing business, and in the fiscal year to March 2003 passenger volumes are set to increase by 40 percent,” Ryanair’s head of communications, Paul Fitzsimmons, said. “We are opening up new routes and bases all the time, and will carry over 15 million passengers this year.
“We are an investing company, too, and have placed the biggest aircraft order in the world this year to ensure we have the fleet capable to sustain our growth plans,” he added.
Ryanair shares closed almost 5 percent higher in Dublin this evening at euro 7 — a gain of 30 cents.
Meanwhile, Ryanair has continued with business as usual.
The company said on Tuesday that it would launch a daily service from Dublin to Newcastle. The service will start Jan. 4, with all seats at the introductory fare of euro 9.99 one way.
In other news, shareholders of M&T Bank Corp. on Monday approved the $3.1 billion buyout of Allfirst, the U.S. subsidiary of Allied Irish Banks that was shaken in February by a currency trading scandal.
M&T, based in Buffalo, and whose largest shareholder is billionaire Warren Buffett, has 451 branches in the Northeast. Allfirst has about 262 branches stretching from Pennsylvania to Virginia.
The deal, subject to approval by banking regulators in the United States and Ireland, was expected to be completed in early 2003.
Allied Irish Banks announced the sale in September, seven months after discovering $691 million in losses at Allfirst by its senior foreign-exchange dealer there, John Rusnak.
AIB denied that the scandal had anything to do with the subsidiary’s sale.