BA Shares valued at 55 pence!
Europe's largest airline, British Airways, may be relegated from the FTSE index of the UK's 100 leading shares following a sharp fall in its share price.
BA's share fell 9% in early trading after two major investment banks expressed concern about its performance.
Goldman Sachs described BA as a "market underperformer" and said its shares are worth much less than the current market value.
Goldman predicted that BA would make pre-tax losses of £594m for the fiscal year ending on 31 March 2002.
Merrill Lynch raised its pre-tax loss forecast for the airline from £65m to £775m before exceptional items for the fiscal year.
Less traffic
The gloomy statements came ahead of BA's passenger number report due later on Monday.
The report is expected to show that passenger numbers fell 25-30% in October.
In September, passenger numbers fell 22%.
BA will release its financial results for the first half of the fiscal year on Tuesday.
The figures will reveal the impact on BA's bottom line of the 11 September attacks and the subsequent war against terrorism.
The airline's shares fell from their opening price of 146.5p after Goldman Sachs valued the stock at between 55p and 128p