Profits soar for airline

Ryanair announced the biggest quarterly profits increase in the history of the company, yesterday. The opening of the year also saw the no-frills Irish carrier fly more than one million passengers in three successive months, for the first time. This was at a time when most airlines were still attempting to recover from the effects of September 11 and the global economic downturn. The company said that over the first three months of the year profits had gone up by 68 per cent.

Games loss: Shares in video games group Bits Corp fell 47 per cent yesterday after it revealed a decision to pull the plug on a publishing deal had blown a hole in revenues. The group plans to raise £390,000 by issuing almost ten million new shares in the City to compensate for a cash shortfall. Bits Corp lost £500,000 from expected revenue after agreeing with a unnamed publisher to scrap a contract covering the development of a game.

DIRECTORY EXPANDED: British Telecom outlined plans yesterday to expand its directories operation after watchdog Oftel opened up the 192 service to competition. BT Directories will add classified listings to the directory service following the group's acquisition of Scoot.com. Customers will also be able to obtain information including sports results, cinema listings and share prices. BT's service, which will also be available online, is likely to be launched at the end of the year. It will rival the Talking Pages and Yell.com business of Yell - sold by BT for £2.1bn last year.

SHARES SLUMP: Human resources consultancy SHL Group saw shares slump yesterday as it announced plans to cut about 60 jobs after trading failed to live up to hopes. The group, based in Thames Ditton, Surrey, is aiming to save £2.3m a year from cost-cutting moves, which will cost up to £5m to implement.

Returns wilt: Mail order company Flying Brands yesterday delivered slightly lower profits after sales at its fresh flowers business fell over Mother's Day. Sales for the group's Flying Flowers division during the six months to June 28 were marginally lower at £5m as an early Mothering Sunday left less time to attract trade. Pre-tax profits fell to £2.7m from £2.9m last time.