UK 06:18 Wednesday, 21 October 2026
Breaking news and expert analysis on fast-moving AIM and LSE listed shares
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from ShareProphets). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Fastjet (FJET) has today threatened legal action against Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou after he published an open letter to the company suggesting it is heading for insolvency and revealing alarming data on load factors garned from "secret shopping" which Fastjet has bee hiding from investors. Naturally I agree completely with the analysis of Sir Stelios. His letter is below:
Already a member? Sign in
• All premium articles
• Tom Winnifrith’s Bearcast
• Access to all the entire nearly 13 year archive
• ShareProphets Daily Newsletter
Cancel any time
This area of the ShareProphets.com site is for independent financial commentary. These blogs are provided by independent authors via a common carrier platform and do not represent the opinions of ShareProphets.com. ShareProphets.com does not monitor, approve, endorse or exert editorial control over these articles and does not therefore accept responsibility for or make any warranties in connection with or recommend that you or any third party rely on such information. The information available at ShareProphets.com is for your general information and use and is not intended to address your particular requirements. In particular, the information does not constitute any form of advice or recommendation by ShareProphets.com and is not intended to be relied upon by users in making (or refraining from making) any investment decisions.
Comments
DRUNKEN SAILOR
Well done to Sir Stelios for making this public – investors have a right to know and it is clear that the company has been keeping key information from the market.
Hopefully he will publish whatever bollocks FJET’s lawyers send him or allow it to be leaked to a Financial website which campaigns for transparency.
FJET is 100% fucked. Their only hope is to hand over the reins to the guy they are threatening to take legal action against.
nigel somerville
Interesting to note that the repsnse by FJET does not include any denial of what Sir Stelios has to say
Marvin
Have no fear. The PR genii will turn this into good news.
wildrides
Oh well done Stelios …………………. thats going to help sell advance tickets .
It wont go bust . Whinny Froths tips like Stanley Gibbons ( I cant say its bad because I am addicted to the advertising revenue ) Teathers , Mira , Obtala etc etc will go bust first.
TW Note FIML ad revenue from SGI ZERO TW note 2 MIRA we cut losss ages ago TW note 3. Wildes gets his facts wrong as he is a prickDuck and Dive
Maybe Stelios’ secret shopper should have sampled a few more flights since Fastjet is this weekend launching 14 additional flights between Dar and Nairobi. Announcing the extra 19,000 seats, Fastjet Chief Commercial Officer, Richard Bodin, said: “We have always promised to increase the frequency on our route between Dar es Salaam and Nairobi as consumer demand grew…”
https://wolfganghthome.wordpress.com/2016/03/15/fastjet-set-for-doubly-daily-flights-between-dar-es-salaam-and-nairobi/
And Stelios seems to have missed the Fastjet RNS of 7 March which stated:
“The Board monitors the Company’s cash position very carefully and with over $20m of cash available at the end of February 2016, and based on current forecasts, it has sufficient funds to meet its operational requirements.”
Interesting spat though – perhaps Stelios wants to buy the company.
wildrides
Well you keep sending me lengthy adverts by E mail for Stanley Gibbons investments so if your not getting the revenue at share profits then I expect you will be wanting to ask Uncle “one in the chamber” Clem who has been getting the revenue ? Since I am not a member of ADVFN but just SP . There …….. I am helping you out . Nice to see you actually post my comments today instead of not bothering or editing out all the “good bits” . Free speech is still alive if you pick the right day it seems . Oh the insults dont bother me ………. the more the vitriol the more I am closer to “the truth” . What is the “truth” , Shirley ( just for Duck) it is different to all men and women , it just depends on your perspective .
TW: I removed a oiece of defamatiory bile by Wildes yesterday. I reserve that right. SGI has a deal with Investor Events ower of UK INvestor Show not SPTeathers owners ………. Wheres your Yacht moored ……….. I would like to come and admire it .
Gwandad
As a none shareholder, hats off to Sir Stelios for his open communication.
Why does FJET need an additional 19000 seats on a route with a load factor of 10 -15%?
And if Richard Bodin statement is to taken at face value, that they would add capacity as demand grew, this 10 – 15% must better than it has been.
Possibly fortunate that Sir Stelios took his data from a week or so ago. From Saturday onwards the number could be lower still.
Bob the Brush
So what if they are launching additional flights? wont do them any good if they are 10% full.
wildrides
Well I think Stelios is being a dick and the fact that Whinny Froth supports todays action only goes to confirm that thought in my mind.
The letter sent today clearly is designed to damage the business . He clearly wants to decimate the share price so that he can take over the company . He has frightened what ever forward booking customers FJET may have had away by questioning if they would get their ticket purchase honoured with a future flight . A wholly non professional way to do business unless you are going to launch a hostile bid or force bankruptcy via a collapse in confidence and then purchase from the receiver for a song .
What he should have done was sent a lawyers letter enclosing the same demands and giving two weeks to comply with a threat to go public should the requested actions not be forthcoming .
I do wonder if Stelios has much experience of business in Africa given the naive and clumsy way this matter has been dealt with . A bull in a china shop does not even come close to the recent actions . More like a Rhino on the Main dual carriageway to Barrow In Furness . That did not end well either…………. the police were too scared to round it up so they just shot it DEAD as in DEAD . A some what clumsy approach for handling an endangered species . Fastjet could end up the same way if Stelios continues his wrecking ball tactics . I feel for shareholders ( not invested ) but much more I feel for Africa . It was a brave attempt to transcend the endemic corruption of the continent and bring in some sort of quality safe air travel ………… now sadly at risk of failure .
Duck and Dive
@Gwandad – obviously, the route does not have a load factor of 10-15% or Fastjet would not have recently doubled the number of flights on this route. Stelios’ secret shopper must have been unlucky.
Why don’t you try a few dummy bookings of Fastjet Dar-Nairobi tickets over the next few days and report back what prices you are quoted?
Bob the Brush
Wildes I am glad there is someone as experienced as you with African business and business in general to point out where Mr Stellios has gone wrong. I am sure he will appreciate it as he doesnt know how to start or run a good airline. Its also good that you know about all the behind the scenes activity and communications etc. that have been going on that puts you in such a good position to comment so strongly on it. Its great to have someone with such in depth knowledge to comment. I would slightly question your assertion that the group of people behind Fastjet would collectively lower the level of corruption in this sector of African commerce but i will take your opinion of that under consideration.
wildrides
Bob the Bog brush ( by the way you left some shit splatter under the rim )
Well clearly Stelios does not have a clue about running an airline in AFRICA . When you have finished the loos and got them nice and sparkly perhaps you could give him some advice . Oh while your at it ……….give Whinnys mouth a good brush out will you ……….he keeps writing defamatory bile about just about every body on the planet, but he cant take the medicine himself . The man puts the Hypo into hypocrite . Seldom or never have I seen so much garbage ,written by one man , gathered in one place ( apart from articles about fraud , which are indeed generally very good indeed) The rest of his output is just sensational grandstanding to get traffic and his other site is just as bad . No , I correct myself its far worse ………….. If it moves then insult it , especially if its female and works in news media. If its a war criminal dictator , applaud its actions . Never mind ……Karma will restore the damage …..all in good time .
Keep those loo’s sparkly Brushy .
Hugs & Kisses
WR
DRUNKEN SAILOR
In response, Mr. Haji-Ioannou said: “Potential breach of a brand licence agreement is a very serious legal matter. easyGroup is both well advised on this occasion and very experienced in handling brand licensees under the terms of their respective agreements. For example it should be remembered that easyJet is an easyGroup licensee.”
“As brand owners, easyGroup is concerned to protect brand customers as well as its reputation from any future damage,” he added.
I don’t think Sir Stelios needs your advice Wildes.
D&D “obviously, the route does not have a load factor of 10-15% or Fastjet would not have recently doubled the number of flights on this route. Stelios’ secret shopper must have been unlucky.”
“Our recent mystery shopping trips” note the use of the plural so not just one unlucky trip. However the full figures would be better than a random sample. But until yesterday they had a non exec on the board so they know the full figures and they know the cash burn situation. Why did the non exec resign? Could it be that they were not listening to him over all these issues?
So why did FJET stop publishing figures in Nov? Could it be the same reason LGO only publish production figures when production goes up?
I would have far more confidence booking a seat on an FJET flight knowing “If the Licensee is expecting to be unable to pay its debts in the near future, then we would demand as the Licensor that an orderly pre-announced cancellation of future flights occurs and a refund of advance bookings to customers be made whilst the Licensee has sufficient funds.” than taking pot luck on them doing what Sir Freddie Laker did (showing my age again).
Whether you like what Sir Stelios has done or not, it is obvious that the shares are fucked. There were mug punters buying in on the drop so there is still a chance to get your bag of crisps.
Duck and Dive
@DS – Stelios also didn’t say which other routes his secret shopper sampled: the plurality could have meant multiple routes rather than multiple trips on the same route. There were also good reasons for flights into Nairobi to be unpopular in early March:
“These new threats come hot on the wheels of speculation that the group [Al-Shabaab] was planning attacks on Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and Mombasa International Airport (MIA) at the beginning of this month [March].”
http://www.news24.co.ke/National/News/al-shabaab-threaten-to-storm-state-house-paint-the-kenyan-flag-red-20160301
So Stelios’ “early March” secret shopper was taking his life in his hands.
The stated reason for discontinuing monthly stats was that such transparency gave an unfair advantage to competitors who were not disclosing their key metrics. Stelios may not believe that but he needs more than suspicions and a terrorism-threatened flight on which to base public accusations.
I assume that Stelios’ non-exec had to leave if his boss and Fastjet were threatening legal action against each other. I suspect too that his man has been sidelined for the monthly traffic and management accounts discussions that Stelios is demanding access to (ie they weren’t on the Board meeting agendas) — otherwise Stelios would have more to go on than his mystery shopper.
Striebs
I almost invested in Fastjet but thankfully bided my time .
I didn’t like it that the offices were back in the U.K. but get the impression Ed Winters and his team did a decent a job . Stellios’ involvement was always a double edge sword .
Regardless of how good a business Fastjet is , the industry is hardly renowned for generating consistent high profits .
There are better industries to invest in .
Drunken Sailor
I see there is another letter dated 22 Mar. I can’t find it there seems to be some security problem with the website. I am sure SP will oblige as before.
Duck and Dive
@DS – link works for me:
http://easytaxis.com/pdf/2016-03-22-easygroup-to-fastjet-notice-of-breach.pdf
I note he has dropped the complaint about the low load factor on his mystery shopper’s gung-ho flight into a terrorist targeted airport.
But much of his bluster is speculation/assumption and really should not be in the public domain – not least because there is simply no way for fastjet to provide any answers to him in his current foghorn mode. The FCA would censure the company for contributing to a disorderly market.
I did wonder if Stelios were trying to push Fastjet into bankruptcy by a) scaring off their passengers and b) dragging them through costly High Court proceedings. Then he could grab the remaining assets, if any, in lieu of payment/damages.
But I am not convinced that this letter has been drafted by a lawyer. And I’m told by someone who should know that this isn’t his motive.
Whatever, it all looks very clumsy. I’m not sure Colin Child expected this when he took on the job of executive chairman a few months ago. I’ll be impressed if he tackles it head on rather than walking away.