DUBLIN (AP) Shares in Ryanair suffered their biggest drop in four years Wednesday after Europe's top budget airline issued a rare profit warning due to low autumn ticket sales that reflected the weak economy and aggressive competition.
Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said his Dublin-based airline, which typically exceeds its profit forecasts, now expects to fall short of its previous 2014 outlook and might not reach its minimum sales target of 570 million euros ($751 million) for the fiscal year ending in March.
The company's shares fell nearly 15 percent to 5.78 euros ($7.62) a five-month low and their biggest drop since October 2009 as analysts expecting Ryanair to eclipse 600 million euros in profit warned that the airline now looked overvalued. Ryanair last issued a profit warning in 2004.
Ryanair's statement sent the shares of other European airlines lower Wednesday. Ryanair's top budget competitor, Britain's easyJet, fell 7.5 percent. International Airlines Group, the parent of British Airways and Spain's Iberia, fell more than 4 percent. Ryanair's main Irish rival, Aer Lingus, slid 5 percent. Lufthansa and Air France-KLM also traded lower.
O'Leary told a conference call that Ryanair's sales were experiencing "a perceptible dip" for the September-November period amid stronger competition in key British, Spanish and Scandinavian markets.
