Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1143967
18.07.19 8 FOREIGN NEWS EASYJET'S share price has slipped into the red in yesterday's session, with in- vestors awaiting the low-cost carrier's third-quarter results today. e update will come after budget peer Ryanair cautioned on Tuesday that as a result of the current uncertainty over the Boeing 737 MAX deliveries, it was cutting its 2020 growth rate from seven percent to three percent. By noon yesterday, easyJet's share price had given up 0.62 percent to 1,043.00p, underperforming the broader UK market, with the FTSE 250 benchmark standing 0.06 percent higher at 19,668.25 points. e group's shares gave up more than 37 percent of their value over the past year, as com- pared with more than a five-percent fall in the mid-cap index. easyJet results preview easyJet is scheduled to update inves- tors on its third-quarter performance tomorrow and Proactive Investors re- ports that Berenberg expects revenue per seat to have dropped 5.5 percent versus the prior-year period, while cost per seat is forecast to have improved a little, largely due to fewer strikes. "We expect the company to set its FY 2019 [pre-tax profit] range below the most recently guided c£435-million level," the broker pointed out. "We es- timate £408 million, slightly below the current consensus of £417 million. Our estimate implies a c£90 million H2 im- provement year-on-year." e update will come after easyJet posted a loss for the first half of its fi- nancial year in May, while saying that that its headline profit before tax ex- pectations for the financial year 2019 remained unchanged and in line with expectations. Analyst ratings update Barclays reaffirmed its 'underweight' stance on the low-cost carrier this week, without specifying a target on the easyJet share price, while Morgan Stanley continues to see the company as an 'equal weight'. According to Market- Beat, the budget airline currently has a consensus 'hold' rating and an average valuation of 1,179.14p. easyJet share price flies lower ahead of Q3 results AMAZON, the world's largest online retailer, could face an EU antitrust in- vestigation within days over its use of merchants' data, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. e European Commission has been seeking feedback from retailers and manufacturers since September last year, one of several competition enforc- ers taking a deeper look into Amazon's business practices amidst calls by some for its break-up. European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has said the issue is about a company hosting merchants on its site and at the same time competing with those same retailers by using their data for its own sales. Merchants have complained about harm caused by Amazon copies of their products. e Commission had been struggling to define the market in which Amazon operates in order to identify where the competitive harm could have been, oth- er sources said. ey said the issue was whether to look at Amazon in the over- all retail market or in its own niche. e EU competition enforcer, which can fine companies up to 10 percent of their global turnover, did not imme- diately respond to a request for com- ment. is would not be Amazon's first run- in with the Commission. Two years ago, it was told to pay back taxes of about 250 million euros to Luxembourg be- cause of illegal tax benefits. at same year it settled with the regulator over its distribution deals with e-book publish- ers in Europe. Separately, Amazon reached a deal with Germany's antitrust authority on Wednesday to overhaul its terms of ser- vice for third-party merchants, who had complained of unfair treatment when selling through the world's biggest on- line retailer. Amazon faces EU antitrust probe over use of merchant data