Ryanair to delist from London Stock Exchange next month over Brexit

Rule changes and high costs have been cited for the move, leaving the Irish airline listed solely on the Euronext Dublin exchange.

Ryanair is to leave the London Stock Exchange (Niall Carson/PA) (PA Wire)

Ryanair has confirmed plans to remove itself from the London Stock Exchange due to high costs and the low number of trades being made.

The airline said it will just be listed on the Euronext Dublin exchange, with the final day of trading set to be on December 17. It currently has dual-listed status.

Ryanair said: “As indicated at our interim results, and following subsequent shareholder engagement, Ryanair has decided to request the cancellation of London listing as the volume of trading of the shares on the London Stock Exchange does not justify the costs related to such listing and admission to trading, and so as to consolidate trading liquidity to one regulated market for the benefit of all shareholders.”

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has floated the idea of leaving the London Stock Exchange previously (Jonathan Brady/PA) (PA Wire)

The company had previously floated the idea of a delisting earlier this month and said Brexit played a significant factor in the decision.

At its results in early November, the firm said: “The migration away from the LSE is consistent with a general trend for trading in shares of EU corporates post Brexit and is, potentially, more acute for Ryanair as a result of the long-standing prohibition on non-EU citizens purchasing Ryanair’s ordinaryshares being extended to UK nationals following Brexit.”

Back in September the airline started the process of selling off around one million shares bought by non-EU nationals since January 1 – mainly British investors – due to company rules and Brexit.

The airline has a prohibition on non-EU nationals snapping up a stake in the company dating back to 2002.