Maxjet shares suspended
MAXjet Stock Halted Pending Financial Clarification (Update1)
By Tracy Alloway
Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- MAXjet Airways Inc., the unprofitable business-only carrier that operates from London to three U.S. cities, asked for its shares be suspended pending clarification of its financial position.
``The board will update investors in due course,'' the Dulles, Virginia-based company said in statement today.
MAXjet's first-half loss widened to $49.5 million from $30.4 million a year earlier as the higher cost of jet fuel and increased spending on additional planes hurt earnings. The company was listed on London's Alternative Investment Market in June.
``This cannot be good,'' said Joe Gill, an analyst at Goodbody Stockbrokers in Dublin. ``The high price of oil, a weak dollar and the general nervousness in the banking system are no doubt affecting them.''
MAXjet began flying between London Stansted and New York John F. Kennedy airports in 2005, joining single-class carriers Eos and SilverJet Plc in competing with British Airways Plc and other network airlines in the lucrative corporate-travel market.
Shares of MAXjet have lost 50 percent of their value since the listing, cutting the company's market value to 51.2 million pounds ($104 million).
The airline's five Boeing Co. 767-200 aircraft have 92-102 leather seats and an onboard service featuring four- course meals with canapés and champagne cocktails. The carrier operates from London to Las Vegas and Los Angeles, as well as New York, after cutting flights to Washington D.C. in October.
MAXjet's listing on AIM raised $104 million to fund expansion. A sub-market of the London Stock Exchange, AIM allows smaller companies to sell stock with a more flexible set of rules than the main market.