Originally Posted by
B Fraser
There's something very fishy going on here. It seems that Flybe have just sold the family silver, 5 minutes before the market closed and at twice the market capitalisation. Have Branson and Stobart just been screwed over ?
RNS Number : 9260M
Flybe Group PLC
11 January 2019
Flybe Group PLC ("Flybe" or the "Group")
Slot Transaction at Gatwick Airport
Flybe Group plc announces that today Flybe Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary, signed an agreement with Vueling Airlines S.A. (the "Agreement") to receive a total of £4,500,000 (four-and-a-half-million pounds) in respect of slots at London Gatwick Airport. The funds will be paid in two tranches, being receivable in the next few days in respect of slots to be used during the Summer Season in 2019 and for subsequent Summer Seasons. The remainder is due in June 2019 in respect of slots to be used during the Winter Season in 2019/20 and subsequent Winter Seasons.
Good spot but sure why it is fishy. If you are buying a company, there are warranties in the Share Purchase Agreement that will force the seller to disclose any material event that is outside the normal course of business. Selling assets would be covered by this and FlyBe would have to formally inform the buyers about this slot sale. However as £4.5m is a large % of the purchase price (not to mention the fact that VS might have had plans for the LGW slots), the buyers will have been fully aware of this as it would risk scuppering the entire deal.
More interesting that IAG have bought some more slots at LGW when they have struggled to use all the Monarch slots bought in late 2017.