MARKET REPORT: Rolls-Royce investors rocked | Daily Mail Online

There was more pain for Rolls-Royce investors after the company furloughed 4,000 staff and slashed its sales target.

Rolls thinks it will deliver 250 engines this year – down from a previous estimate of 450 – after the coronavirus pandemic wiped out demand for new planes.

While Rolls makes engines for Airbus and Boeing’s larger planes, it earns most of its money from maintaining and servicing them.

The FTSE 100-listed group will struggle after the number of hours its engines spent flying in April fell by 90 per cent. Across the first four months of the year, flying hours dropped 40 per cent.

And, as several airlines have said so far, the manufacturer doesn’t think the demand for flights will recover for ‘several years’.

The engineering group stopped short of announcing job cuts – though it has been widely reported it is talking to unions about making 8,000 of its 52,000-strong workforce redundant.

It has pledged to confirm how many jobs will go by the end of this month. On the bright side, chief executive Warren East said the company would be able to save £1billion this year, which is £250million more than it originally thought.

But shareholders didn’t see this as much of a silver lining, with the group’s stock falling 2.3 per cent, or 6.6p, to 287.1p.

Investors in GKN-owner Melrose were similarly perturbed.

Shares in the fellow Footsie industrials group fell 2.2 per cent, or 2.2p, to 96p despite it pledging to save £200million between April and June.

Sales fell 20 per cent in the first four months of the year.

Intercontinental Hotels Group, the blue-chip owner of the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza chains, managed to stay out of the red, rising 4.7 per cent, or 162p, to 3594p.

The amount of revenue it made per room fell 25 per cent in the first quarter and by as much as 80 per cent in April, though business is restarting in China.

A surprise uptick in China’s exports also boosted the FTSE 100, which rose 1.40 per cent, or 82.22 points, to 5935.98.

The FTSE 250 rose 1.7 per cent, or 265.47 points, to 16247.94.

Housebuilder Countryside Properties plans to reopen 80 per cent of its construction sites next Monday, when the Government intends to start unwinding some of the strictest lockdown measures.

Countryside, whose shares fell 2.5 per cent, or 9.8p, to 385p, has clinched £300million of Government cash which it will use as ‘stand-by’ money.

Trainline’s stock rose 8 per cent, or 28p, to 378p as it reported revenue jumped 24 per cent to £261million in the year to the end of February.

Its pre-tax loss increased from £14million to £80million, partly from one-offs such as the cost of its float last summer. 

Although the number of passengers using trains has slumped 95 per cent, Trainline thinks it has a rosy outlook because the pandemic will make the switch to e-ticketing all the more urgent.

Shares climbed 8.2 per cent, or 2.15p, to 28.5p at the AA, whose financial year also finished before the coronavirus hit.

Profits doubled to £107million in the 12 months to January 31 as it reversed a fall in paying members, which rose by 8,000 to 3.2m.

Call-outs are up to about 90 per cent of expected levels, though about half of these are from people who are unable to start their cars that have sat idle.

Superdry is seeking to shore up its finances as sales plunge in the coronavirus lockdown.

The fashion brand said total sales dived by 36.9 per cent to £118.5million in the quarter to the end of April, compared to the same period last year, as it was knocked by enforced store closures.

Shares closed up 5.2 per cent, or 6.1p, at 124.3p.