Flybe blamed the failure to hit its forecast on a recent slowdown in consumer spending on air travel and high oil prices Photo: PA
Shares in Britain's biggest domestic airline dropped 57½ to 172½p on Thursday after it said it now expected full-year profits for the 12 months to March of £22m, some £2m short of analyst expectations.
The warning exacerbates the turbulence for shareholders who bought into the carrier's float at 295p in December and have since seen the value of their investment plunge by 42pc.
Flybe, which flies from airports including Birmingham, Cardiff and Edinburgh, blamed the failure to hit its forecast on a recent slowdown in consumer spending on air travel and high oil prices.
Mr French, Flybe's chairman and chief executive, said: "We haven't had any angry shareholders. Obviously, there have been a lot of questions but no one has shouted at us."
However, Derek Mitchell, a portfolio manager at Royal London Asset Management, one of the largest institutional shareholders in Flybe, said: "It's not good the shares have fallen so far so soon after the IPO - it's very disappointing. The decline in share price is not something we like to see. It will obviously impact our fund performance."
