No headwinds for Easyjet after forecasts of rising profits, bolstered by its German operation, lifted the shares by 10p to £14.26. As the new boss, Johan Lundgren, gets his feet under the desk, optimism that the low-cost airline is capitalising on the struggles of its rivals pushed it higher. Panmure Gordon upgraded the stock to “neutral” after concluding that it had “bought profit growth” by acquiring the old operations of Air Berlin, which collapsed this year, at Tegel airport. While the broker believes that Easyjet is benefiting from the failures of Air Berlin and Monarch Airlines, as well as the staffing issues at Ryanair, it lifted its pre-tax profit projection for 2019 by 20 per cent. “We remain concerned with weak [free cash flow] and…

Source: The Times December 21, 2017 00:06 UTC