AIR Partner Share Discussion Threads

[lbo] 20/8/2007 12:48

Heathrow camp fuels boom in private jet travel

[reynard46] 09/8/2007 12:16

Thanks for the research, LBO. Like the sound of the special dividends!

Rey

[lbo] 09/8/2007 09:06

Daniel Stewart advised clients to 'buy' the stock, saying the statement supports its view that the company will declare a special dividend when it reports in October - the broker expects 25 pence followed by 30 pence in two years' time.

Daniel Stewart's current pretax forecast for the full-year to July 2008 is 8.5 mln stg which is just 10 pct growth. Given that 'current forward order book is significantly ahead of the comparable period' this may be a shade too low and the broker says it could be adding 0.4 mln or so, taking it to 8.9 mln. If it does, EPS would come in at 58.8 pence up from the current 56.3 pence.

[lbo] 09/8/2007 09:02

The FT


Jet propulsion

[lbo] 09/8/2007 08:57

Air Partner profit rise


Air Partner, the aircraft charter company, expects to post a 50 per cent rise in annual profits after a sharp increase in demand from European governments. It said that pretax profit for the year to the end of July was anticipated to be 50 per cent greater than last year's £5.1 million. It said that it had benefited from the increased use of private jets by government ministers. (David Robertson

[lbo] 09/8/2007 08:55

Private aircraft contractor Air Partner watched its shares rise 37½p to £12.25 after it announced that it expects to post a 50pc jump in pre-tax profits for the year to July.


The company, which charters large aircraft for companies and governments and private jets for wealthy individuals, said it was enjoying "near perfect trading conditions".

Chief executive David Savile said: "It's the principle of globalisation. Teleconferencing isn't the be all and end all. We have to do business face-to-face. Alternatives by scheduled aircraft have become appallingly bad. And there is an increasing number of people who are able to go private." The news prompted a raft of broker upgrades. Amit Thakar at Seymour Pierce raised his price target from £11.50 to £15 and reiterated a buy rating on the stock.

"Air Partner is vindicating our view that its growth momentum is not cyclical but a function of the new 'globalised' world where air travel gets cheaper but cumbersome, hence the need for premium and quality services of Air Partner," he wrote in a note.

Mr Thakar raised his targets for full-year pre-tax profits from £6.8m to £7.9m and expects a special dividend this year.

[reynard46] 08/8/2007 10:06

Let's hope this puts the company on more investors' radars.

[lbo] 03/8/2007 15:32

Jet firm sold in £10m deal

Kevin Feddy
31/ 7/2007

AN EXECUTIVE jet business based at Manchester Airport has been sold for more than £10m.

Ocean Sky Aviation has won the race to land Northern Executive Aviation in the face of competition from the US and Europe, as businesses look to cash in on the corporate jet boom.

NEA was established in 1961 and was owned for the last 28 years by a Dutch businessman, Andre Van Gils, who lives in Switzerland.

In the mid-1960s, Leeds United and former Chelsea owner Ken Bates was a director.

The company employs 60 people and turned over £9.2m in 2006. The figure is expected to reach £11m this year. It has been profitable for the past three years after posting losses in 2004.

[lbo] 29/7/2007 17:36

The man helping high flyers to travel in style


Ocean Sky director with his heart in the expanding private jet market

[lbo] 23/7/2007 12:00

Soccer Stars Fuel Private Jet Trend

[lbo] 17/7/2007 14:31

Boom in £1,000 private jet flights

[lbo] 15/7/2007 21:49

The rise and rise of the private-jet break
By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Published: 14 July 2007


Arriving three hours early for a flight to go through check-in, security and Customs is a familiar start to the summer holidays for millions.

But for the world's millionaires, the tedium of airline bureaucracy and lengthy baggage checks can be bypassed, albeit expensively, with a private jet.

Private aviation is booming in Britain, according to figures released this week, and it is being used increasingly for holidays as well as the more usual business dashes to the financial centres of Frankfurt or New York.

This week, a private jet executive, Jamie Gillborn, business development manager at private operator Twinjet, said many executives were now using Lear jets and the like to travel to weekend holiday destinations such as Nice, Barcelona, Milan or Rome.

He explained: "Senior executives are so time poor. They can leave Thursday night for a three-day weekend and arrive 10-15 minutes before departure, or they might decide to stop at a holiday villa on their way back from a business trip."

The CAA says that while the number of passengers on scheduled flights has risen from 114 million to 202 million between 1996 and 2006, the number of charter passengers - including those using private jets - has soared from 3.5 million to 34 million.

The industry says that, for most passengers, the main benefit of a private jet is not the prospect of travelling very fast while perched on cream leather sofas sipping champagne; it is time.

"Most of the corporate customers don't want to have to go through the big airport check-ins and the high security problems. You can fly from your local airfield to where you want to get to. You don't have to go through the major hubs," said Peter Mirams, senior controller at Biggin Hill in Kent, one of the airports in the Southeast specialising in private flights.

If necessary for security reasons - and it happens at least once a day at Biggin Hill - private passengers walk straight off the plane to a limousine waiting on the tarmac. Flights increase during high-profile sports events such as Wimbledon and Epsom.

Private jets have grown with the rise of the City of London as one of the leading, if not the leading financial centre of the world, and the sharp rise in the wealthy and their wealth. The number of high net worth individuals with assets of more than £500,000 rose by 8.1 per cent to 484,580 in 2006, according to Merrill Lynch.

Some 40 per cent of private jet hire at the world's largest corporate jet charter, though, comes from Governments - including the British Government - said David Savile, chief executive of Air Partner.

The company's private jet profits rose by 75 per cent this year. For a multi-millionaire hedge manager, hiring a jet for £20,000 for a weekend can make the most of those precious, lucrative leisure hours, explained Mr Savile. "You jump on a private jet and fly down to your villa or chalet to do some skiing and you are going to be at that place in two hours," he said.

Apart from location of airport and cost, scheduled services offered the traveller little choice, he added, whereas private jet customers could change the plane, crew, catering, and even their minds about their destination. More clients were choosing to buy their own jets, which cost between £2.5m and £25m.

"Most of our owners are fairly simple straightforward people," said Mr Savile. "You don't get much evidence of people wanting gold taps. They are not generally ostentatious. Yes, you can find a stretch limo equivalent in the air but they are very rare."

Nevertheless at the Paris air show last month an unnamed individual placed an order for an Airbus A380, built to carry 840 passengers, to fly them and their entourage.

[reynard46] 26/6/2007 15:40

Thx, LBO.

Prankster2: looks well timed.

Rey

[lbo] 26/6/2007 14:47

Reynard,
I don't have the full recommendation just that they put out a buy note and their estimates.

The sector is very strong at the moment and I see netjets placed more plane orders at the Paris Air show.


Textron's Cessna Aircraft Reveals $1 Bln Citation Business Jets Order From NetJets - Update [TXT]

6/20/2007 1:35:34 AM Wednesday, Textron Inc.'s (TXT) Cessna Aircraft Company revealed at the Paris Air Show that NetJets, its largest Citation customer, has ordered 96 Citation business jets. According to the company, the total value of the order is more than $1 billion and includes 50 Encore+, 37 XLS+ and 9 Citation X aircraft. NetJets has 304 Citation business jets currently under management.

NetJet's chairman and CEO, Richard Santulli, said that it selected Encore+, XLS+ and Citation X for several reasons. He added that the Encore and its predecessor were the main workhorses of its fleet since mid 1990s, while XLS was preferred because of exceptional cabin comfort and low operating cost. As regards Citation X, he said that speed was the deciding factor.

Providence, Rhode Island-headquartered general aviation aircraft manufacturer Textron noted that Cessna Aircraft Company is the world's largest manufacturer of general aviation airplanes based on unit sales. In 2006, Cessna delivered 1,239 aircraft, including 307 Citation business jets. Revenue for the year was approximately $4.2 billion.

TXT closed Tuesday's regular session at $113.81, up $4.98 or 4.58% on a volume of 2,289,693 shares. Textron gapped up Tuesday and climbed higher around 10:15 a.m. after an analyst upgraded the company. The stock took out the session highs going into the close and finished at a new 52-week high.

[prankster2] 25/6/2007 12:52

Seems to have stabilised so I bought some more at 1208.

[reynard46] 21/6/2007 16:31

Hi, LBO. Can you post the full recommendation?

TIA,
Rey

[lbo] 21/6/2007 15:46

Oriel Securities 20-06-07 BUY

2008 Pre-tax £7m eps 46.90p Div 22.00p

[budgie6] 15/6/2007 00:01

Think this is a tremendous company for any investor to hold...ticks all the right boxes for future growth and wouldnt be suprised to see it head towards £15

[lbo] 14/6/2007 16:21

Yes looks like the sector is booming in Europe but for how long?

[reynard46] 14/6/2007 16:12

Nice find, LBO. As I said earlier, AIP is operating in a commercial sweet spot.

Rey

[lbo] 14/6/2007 16:08

Elite take private jets to new highs



Super-rich and super-busy are turning their backs on scheduled flights, fuelling a boom in smaller aircraft

Simon Bowers
Friday June 8, 2007
Guardian Unlimited