US investment giant cuts Ryanair stake to under 5pc

In a filing to the stock exchange yesterday, Blackrock indicated that it now holds just over 55 million ordinary Ryanair shares compared to the 71.2 million it owned back in June.

While it increased its holdings of Ryanair's US ADR shares to almost 11.1 million from 10.3 million, the combined stake in the airline held by Blackrock between those ADRs and ordinary shares fell to 4.78pc from the 5.9pc it owned in June.

In June, Blackrock owned 74.4 million ordinary Ryanair shares before selling down the stake. It also owned 10.6 million ADRs.

The investment firm had slightly increased its share in Ryanair back in May.

However, the percentage of Ryanair that Blackrock owns now is still greater than the 4.6pc stake it had at the end of March 2013, according to the airline's last annual report.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary owns 3.71pc of the carrier, having paid about €2m to buy extra shares at the end of June.

The latest share sale by Blackrock comes as Ryanair prepares to release what are expected to be solid first quarter results on Monday.

Davy Stockbrokers is expecting it to deliver a near doubling of net profits, to €154.1m for the three months to the end of June.

Ryanair plans to release details of its new business ticket products in coming weeks, while Mr O'Leary said last week that he's considering investing in troubled Cyprus Airways, which is currently up for sale by its government owner having racked up losses for years.

Mr O'Leary has also expressed an interest in acquiring a stake in state-owned Spanish airport operator AENA when the company hits the stockmarket this autumn.

AENA is planning to sell off 49pc of the company.