MARKET REPORT: Jet2 shares soar by 8% as it carries 2.5m passengers and records a 36% increase in package holiday customers

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While much of the travel industry struggles amid terrorism fears and Brexit uncertainty, the firm behind Jet2holidays reported a strong summer season.

Dart Group, which owns the holiday operator as well as its logistics arm Fowler Welch, said revenue was up 21 per cent to £1.2billion.

Pre-tax profit climbed 12 per cent to £163.7million in the half year to September 30.

Dart said leisure travel had underpinned progress, with the number of package holiday customers rising 36 per cent to 1.3million. It also carried 2.5million flight-only passengers over the period.

Taking off: Dart Group, which owns holiday operator Jet2holidays, as well as its logistics arm Fowler Welch,reported a strong summer season

Jet2 will start flying from Birmingham and Stansted in March, and said while there are pricing pressures with a weaker pound, it had increased seat capacity by 13 per cent.

Dart said there was no post-Brexit slowdown in bookings and full-year performance was likely to be slightly ahead of expectation. Shares darted up 8.4 per cent, or 34p to 437.5p.

The FTSE 100 finished the day 0.7 per cent higher, or 44.99 points at 6794.71. Property firms staged a comeback after a few days in the doldrums, as figures revealed prices rose in September.

Barratt Developments climbed 3.5 per cent, or 16.5p to 486p to recover some of the previous day's losses. British Land edged up 3 per cent, or 17.5p to 610p as BNP Paribas upped its target price for the stock.

Building services group TClarke shrugged off Brexit concerns and reassured investors it had a strong order book and had seen no cancellations.

STOCK WATCH - TRACSIS 

Tracsis, which provides software to the transport industry such as rostering and data analysis, reported that revenues rose 29 per cent to £32.6million in the year to July 31.

The company said business had been boosted by the purchase of SEP, which provides traffic management at events. It delivered a record year of trading, bolstered by a busy summer.

Tracsis said adjusted pre-tax profit climbed 18 per cent to £6.9million in the year and the full-year dividend was increased by 20 per cent to 1.2p a share. 

Shares inched up 0.2 per cent, or 1p to 526p.

In a trading update the firm said it had signed contracts for London's newest skyscraper development at 22 Bishopgate. 

TClarke has secured a £56million deal to assist with electricals and fire alarm systems in the tower, being developed by Axa Investment Managers. Construction starts next year and is set to complete in 2019.

Last month the business had uncovered financial irregularities at one of its subsidiaries. It said initial inquiries suggested that in excess of £2.8million had been misappropriated by an employee over a number of years. 

Yesterday TClarke said it had started legal proceedings to recover the funds and investigations are continuing. Shares advanced 4.8 per cent, or 2.8p to 60.8p.

Safestore surged as it reported full-year revenue was up 10.1 per cent at £115.4million. 

The self-storage company, which operates in the UK and Paris, said that new acquisitions, extensions and openings in Wandsworth, Altrincham and Birmingham meant it now had 1.6m sq ft of space available to let.

Chief executive Frederic Vecchioli said earnings should be at the top end of expectations. Investec, which has a 'buy' rating on the stock, said it was a good finish to a strong year for the firm.

Shares gained 3.2 per cent, or 11.2p to 358.5p. Premier Oil slipped as it said a refinancing agreement was in the final stages of negotiation with banks and bondholders. 

The oil producer, which has interests in Pakistan and the Falkland Islands, said production was beating estimates and its Catcher well in the North Sea is on target to start producing next year. 

Chief executive Tony Durrant said the business had reduced costs and was delivering against a challenging backdrop for commodities.

He said: 'Refinancing has taken longer than anticipated, but will, once completed, put Premier in good stead to reinvest in the business while paying down debt [which is £2.25billion].' Shares stumbled 0.9 per cent, or 0.5p to 54p.

The largest shareholder of Conroy Gold and Natural Resources took advantage of a share price dip to top up his stake in the business. 

Patrick O'Sullivan bought 105,000 shares in the Irish firm, increasing his stake in the company to 23.04 per cent with 2.54million shares to his name.

The AIM-listed miner said in its full-year results that it had discovered new gold zones at its Clay Lake project. 

But Conroy made a loss of around £250,000 in the year to May 31, and has raised £1.4million from investors. Shares tumbled 8.9 per cent, or 2p to 20.5p.

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