Raphael Stevens

LONDON — Ryanair has reported a “strong snap back” in bookings in recent weeks, but said that business continues to be challenging.The airline reported a full-year net loss of 815 million euros ($989 million) on Monday as Covid-19 restrictions pushed its traffic levels down 81%. Analysts had forecast a net loss of 933 million euros for the 12 months ending in March, according to Refinitiv.Speaking to CNBC on Monday, Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary said it was a “very difficult year,” but that the company was “looking forward with tremendous optimism.””In the first week of April, we took just under half a million bookings. Six weeks later, last week, we took 1.5 million bookings. So we are seeing a very strong snap back in bookings; travel beginning to start from June, July, August,” O’Leary said.”I think if these trends continue we will be looking reasonably optimistic towards a very strong second quarter of traffic recovery.”Regardless of the recent surge, Ryanair only expects to come close to breakeven in the 12 months to March 2022.”FY22 (full fiscal year 2022) continues to be challenging, with uncertainty around when and where Covid lockdowns and travel restrictions will be eased,” it said in a release Monday.Ryanair expects traffic in the year to March 2022 to be at the lower end of its range of between 80 million and 120 million passengers. In the year to March 2021, the airline reported 27.5 million customers.Price pressureDespite vaccinations gathering pace and European governments starting to welcome tourists again, Ryanair doesn’t expect prices to jump in the short-term. In fact, O’Leary told CNBC there is “huge value” for British families looking to holiday in Europe this summer.However, he did warn that there could be some price pressure in late 2021 and into the summer of 2022.”We should be careful though, out into the winter of 21 and certainly into the summer 22, because as Europe recovers from Covid … there is no doubt in mind that there will be about 20% less capacity out there,” O’Leary told CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe.Passenger aircraft, operated by Ryanair Holdings, stand on the tarmac at London Stansted Airport in Stansted, U.K., on May 1, 2020.Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Images More

A worker uses a thermometer to check the temperature of a customer as she enters a Starbucks shop as the country is hit by an outbreak of the new coronavirus, in Beijing, China January 30, 2020.A worker uses a thermometer to check the temperature of a customer as she enters a Starbucks shop as the country is hit by an outbreak of the new coronavirus, in Beijing, China January 30, 2020.BEIJING — In the latest sign of a sluggish recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, China said Monday that consumer spending grew at a slower-than-expected pace in April.Retail sales rose 17.7% last month from a year ago, the National Bureau of Statistics said Monday. That missed expectations of 24.9% growth in April, according to analysts polled by Reuters.April’s retail sales figure also marked a slowdown from 34.2% year-on-year growth in March.”China is still seeing an unbalanced recovery, as employment, household income, consumption, manufacturing investment, (the) service sector and private firms have yet to come back to (the) pre-Pandemic level,” Bruce Pang, head of macro and strategy research at China Renaissance, said in a statement.Catering sales, which includes restaurant dining, grew 46.4% year-on-year in April, down from 91.6% in March.Online sales of consumer goods rose 23.1% during the first four months of the year from a year ago, a slower pace than the 25.8% growth rate of the first three months of the year. The statistics bureau did not release single-month growth rates.Foundation for recovery is ‘not yet solid’In a quarterly monetary policy report released last week, the People’s Bank of China noted that the foundation for economic recovery is not yet solid and consumer spending remains constrained.On Monday, the Statistics Bureau reiterated that the foundation for the economic recovery is not yet solid.The urban unemployment rate fell to 5.1% in April, down from 5.3% in March, but the average number of hours worked a week declined to 46.4 hours last month, from 46.9 hours in March. The unemployment rate for those aged 16 to 24 remained a high 13.6%, the data showed.Consumption has lagged China’s overall economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Retail sales contracted last year despite expansion in China’s GDP — the only major economy to grow last year.”Sectors related to travel, leisure and entertainment employ a lot of people,” Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, said in a note. “The Covid uncertainty still holds these sectors back.”Economic growth likely peaked in Q1 on a quarter-on-quarter basis,” he said, noting he expects growth to slow in coming months and that the probability of a central bank rate hike has declined.In another sign of persistent weakness in consumption, Chinese tourist trips during the May 1 to 5 Labor Day holiday surged to a record, but spending still fell short of 2019’s levels.Growth in other parts of the economyOther figures for April showed steady growth in non-consumer sectors.Industrial output rose 9.8% in April, matching Reuters’ expectations.Fixed asset investment for the first four months of the year rose 19.9%, slightly above the 19% figure predicted by a Reuters poll.Earlier this month, China’s customs agency said exports grew a more-than-expected 32.3% in April from a year ago. More

With vaccines rolling out across across the world, travelers want to reclaim something most gave up during the lockdown era: the summer vacation.Travel searches are surging, and bookings aren’t far behind. But it isn’t happening uniformly across continents.Here’s who is booking, where people are traveling, and what’s beckoning travelers from their homes again.Europe on the moveMore than half (56%) of Europeans intend to travel this summer with the vast majority choosing to stay within the continent, according to the European Travel Commission, a non-profit organization which represents over 30 countries in Europe.Nearly half (49%) of survey respondents are planning trips to another European country, while 36% intend to stay within their own borders. Of those most likely to travel, 29% are making plans between May and June, while 46% are waiting for July and August, according to the research published in April.Where Europeans plan to travel this summerSpain: 10.4%Italy: 9%France: 7%Greece: 6.2%Germany: 5.2%Source: European Travel CommissionFamily and friends are taking a backseat this year; only 19% are booking trips primarily to see them. Two-thirds (66%) of those most likely to travel are motivated by leisure, with 34% favoring a seaside trip.More than 50% of travelers are willing to fly, while car travel (36%) is the second most popular transport choice.Portugal is 6th on the list of most popular destinations from the European Travel Commission, but its polling predates a mad dash for bookings by British travelers following Portugal’s inclusion on the U.K.’s “green list” on May 7.Israel, Iceland and several other countries and overseas territories are also on the green list, which means that from today, travelers from England will not need to quarantine when returning from there.Small town America”Americans are continuing to take the opportunity to explore their own backyards and discover destinations within the U.S.,” said Misty Belles, managing director at Virtuoso, a global network of travel agencies specializing in luxury and experiential travel.While Hawaii and other beach locations are attracting those trying to relax after a stressful year, Alaska is enticing travelers who might otherwise have left the United States.With 30 square miles of sand, the Great Sand Dunes near Alamosa, Colo. are attracting visitors seeking remote outdoor vacations.Patricia Giraldo | Moment | Getty Images”High-end travelers who might normally head to more exotic locations, like Africa, are opting for the outdoorsy, adventure playground and big game viewing of Alaska,” she said. “With no cruise ships coming into Alaska’s ports this season, people are exploring by land and discovering more of the interior terrain.”California is drawing people to perennial favorites like Napa Valley, while travelers on the East Coast are booking trips to Nantucket and Cape Cod, said Belles, adding that summer availability in these areas is already scarce.  Places with less name recognition are drawing travelers too. Nearly 70% of Airbnb searches for the U.S. Memorial Day weekend are for off-the-beaten-path locations that are 50-300 miles from travelers’ homes. The site’s top trending rural locations for the holiday weekend starting May 29 — which is considered by some to be the unofficial start of summer in the United States — are:Alamosa County, Colo.Nye County, Nev.Sanpete County, UtahAngel Fire, N.M.Forks, Wash.Sandpoint, IdahoWashington County, Va.West Yellowstone, Mont.Jackson County, N.C.Harper’s Ferry, W.Va.Compared to Memorial Day travel trends from two years ago, Airbnb data shows triple-digit search increases for tents (260%), houseboats (142%), farm stays (119%) and treehouses (111%) as some travelers ditch hotels for quirkier, remote accommodations.While flight bookings have increased, road trips still reign — at least on social media. Since April 29, of more than 1.6 million travel-related conversations on Twitter, road trips were mentioned more than 32,000 times and flights 22,000 times, according to the Chicago-based social media analytics company Sprout Social.Americans look to EuropeWhile Americans are largely expected to travel domestically this year, trans-Atlantic airfare searches spiked 47% after EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen indicated vaccinated Americans may be able to travel to Europe this summer, according to the Montreal-based travel app Hopper.London, Paris and Barcelona are the most popular European cities by total searches, however Hopper’s data showed Denmark (+84%), Poland (+72%) and Switzerland (+63%) saw the greatest percent change in searches following Leyen’s comments on April 25.Read more on summer travel in the age of CovidHere’s a complete list of destinations opening to vaccinated travelersSix vaccinated medical experts reveal their summer travel plans Alaska is out, but the Caribbean is full speed ahead: What we know about cruising in 2021Online searches for Croatia (+31%) and Iceland (+22%), both of which are already open to Americans, also increased following von der Leyen’s comments.”Internationally, we’re seeing great optimism for Europe’s reopening,” said Belles.While Greece and Iceland are popular among Virtuoso’s clientele, she said “the top European destination, with bookings already secured before borders are even open, is Italy.””This isn’t entirely surprising considering Italy is always among the top destinations for the Virtuoso network, but it does illustrate that people are eager to return to their favorite spots,” she said.Italy is the top European destination for Virtuoso’s American travelers this summer, even though the country hasn’t officially opened to them, said Misty Belles.© Marco Bottigelli | Moment | Getty ImagesVirtuoso’s top destinations for summer hotel bookings from Americans are (in order): the United States, Italy, Mexico, France, the Bahamas, the United Kingdom, Greece, Canada, Spain and Ireland.If Europe opens to them, Americans may have another reason to rejoice. Flights to Europe are cheaper than they’ve been in the past, according to Hopper.  “Reopening a country can enable more competition among airlines and increase the supply of seats sold along those routes, which tends to lower airfare in the short-term,” said Adit Damodaran, an economist at Hopper.Airfare to Iceland dropped after the country reopened, and similar trends are happening for trans-Atlantic flights as it becomes increasingly likely that Europe will open to vaccinated Americans this summer, he said.The most searched European destinations by Americans from April 27 to May 11, according to Hopper’s data.Courtesy of Hopper travel appThe trend, however, isn’t expected to last much longer.”Hopper estimates airfare to Europe will bottom out at $700 round-trip around May 15, before rising towards $775 around mid-June,” said Damodaran.There are particularly good deals on round-trip airfare to Portugal ($501) and Iceland ($530) last week, he said.Asia at a standstillSummer travel between Asian countries is still largely paralyzed, as the region grapples with rising Covid rates tied to the B.1.617 variant first identified in India last December.Of the Maldives’ estimated 43,000 total Covid cases, more than 13,000 have been confirmed in the past two weeks.Abllo Ameer | Moment | Getty ImagesInfection rates remain high in places such as the Philippines and Indonesia, while vaccination rates are low across Asia. In the past month, countries with relatively stable case counts — places such as Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — have seen an uptick in new infections too.The few Asian destinations that are welcoming mass tourism, namely the Maldives and Sri Lanka, are experiencing calamitous spikes in infections. More

SINGAPORE — For Fiona Loh, juggling marketing, accounts, customer service and product development is all in a day’s work.The 28-year-old swapped computers for cookies last year, when she quit her stable job as a technology product manager for a bank to run her own bakery business, Whiskdom.”Every day I felt something nudging within me: What if, what if, what if?” Loh told CNBC.And she’s not alone. Loh is one of a growing number of people leaving behind their 9-to-5 jobs to pursue their passion after the pandemic disrupted traditional industries and careers.Rise of the pandemic entrepreneurLast year, even as job security grew elusive for many, more than two in five (41%) employees were considering leaving their jobs to start their own business, according to a Singapore study from recruitment firm Randstad.For self-taught baker Loh, the choice was clear.I was working back-to-back between my day job and my night hustle — a good 20 hours a day.Fiona Lohfounder, WhiskdomWhen Singapore’s lockdown last year boosted appetite for home-baked goods, she saw an opportunity to quit the grind and take her Instagram side hustle up a notch.In July 2020, with the pandemic rife, Loh left her salaried job to take Whiskdom full-time.”I was working back-to-back between my day job and my night hustle — a good 20 hours a day,” she said. “There came this day where I sat there and I couldn’t think. My mind was so fatigued … I just felt I couldn’t continue.”28-year-old Singaporean Fiona Loh quit her banking job during the pandemic to run her own bakery business.CNBCBy October, with demand surging for her molten brownies and levain-style cookies — and an 18-month waitlist to fulfil, the young founder relocated operations from her parents’ home to a commercial kitchen in central Singapore.Stimulus opens the door for new businessesLoh’s is a success story in a year in which many industries, particularly food and beverage and retail, were battered by the pandemic and resultant lockdowns.But, according to Xiu Ru Lim, business lecturer at Singapore Polytechnic, the economic landscape through 2020 and 2021 has been accommodating for first-time business owners.The government grants … provided opportunities for small business owners to look at starting out.Xiu Ru Limlecturer, Singapore Polytechnic”This could actually be an opportunity for a lot of businesses,” said Lim. “Around the globe, we can see a lot of new businesses being formed. Quite a number of those, while the statistics do not fully report it, are actually single business establishments.”Indeed, in 2020, business closures actually fell while the number of new companies formed remained stable as the Singapore government — like many other developed nations — extended loans, grants and rental waivers to keep small businesses afloat.Digital payments and other technologies have lowered the barriers to entry for many new business owners.CNBCMeantime, the rapid adoption of technology during the period has opened the market for new businesses, Lim noted.”The competition has levelled out a little bit,” she said. “With the government grants and incentives that actually encourage businesses to go digital, this has provided opportunities for small business owners to look at starting out.”New generation of business leadersBusiness ownership can take a huge personal and financial toll — and that remains a significant barrier preventing many other would-be business owners from realizing their goals, however.Loh, for her part, received a government grant for her ovens but she had to fork out 50,000 Singapore dollars (around $37,500) in personal savings to fund the project. That put her wedding and home-buying dreams on hold, she said, adding that she has yet to match her previous salary.When you go into entrepreneurship, you end up having to be everything … But, for myself, I really enjoy doing it.Fiona Lohfounder, Whiskdom”If I really wanted the money, I would have stayed in banking,” said Loh, noting that she now draws “a minimum sum” — enough to pay her daily living costs and insurance bills. The rest of the earnings have been reinvested into the business, hiring three full-time staff, including her 62-year-old father.As a new employer with a growing business, Loh must now be even more careful planning her business for the future.Estimates suggest that 20% of new businesses fail within their first two years, and 45% within five years — often due to poor market knowledge, expanding too quickly and lack of finances.Still, the young entrepreneur insisted she won’t be clocking back into the office anytime soon.”When you go into entrepreneurship, you end up having to be everything and you end up having to do everything on your own,” said Loh. “It’s very different from being employed. But, for myself, I really enjoy doing it.” More

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky is seen during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing to discuss the on-going federal response to COVID-19, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., May 11, 2021.Greg Nash | Pool | ReutersCDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky defended the agency’s decision to tell people who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 they can go without a mask as state and local officials grapple with whether to follow suit.”We are asking people to be honest with themselves,” Walensky said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” which aired Sunday. “If they are vaccinated and they are not wearing a mask, they are safe. If they are not vaccinated and they are not wearing a mask, they are not safe.”The CDC’s recommendation has created some confusion because it does not lift local mask mandates. States, municipalities and businesses can make the choice whether or not to follow it. There’s also no definitive way to track who has received a vaccine, forcing businesses to work on a sort of honor system.”This was not permission to shed masks for everybody everywhere. This was really science driven, individual assessment of your risk,” Walensky said Sunday morning on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance Thursday, saying it’s safe for fully vaccinated Americans to remove their masks in most settings, whether they are outside or indoors. It’s the first time in more than a year that the federal government has encouraged ditching masks, and marks a major turning point for the pandemic.Masks are still required on planes, buses and public transportation.White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci reaffirmed the guidance while appearing on CBS’s “Face The Nation” later in the morning.”There’s been an accumulation of data showing the real world effectiveness of the vaccines,” Fauci said. “It’s even better than in the clinical trials, well over 90% protecting you against the disease.””Even though there are breakthrough infections with vaccinated people, almost always the people are asymptomatic, and the level of virus is so low, it makes it extremely unlikely, not impossible but very, very low likelihood they are going to transmit it,” Fauci said. President Joe Biden, who was criticized last month for not removing his mask after the CDC said fully vaccinated Americans could go outdoors without them, has followed the new guidance. Biden shared a picture Sunday afternoon of him meeting maskless with six people in the Oval Office sometime last week.Still, some states have decided to keep mask mandates in place for now. New Jersey and Hawaii will ask people to continue to wear masks indoors.National Nurses United, which calls itself the largest union of registered nurses in the U.S., condemned the CDC’s guidelines in a statement Friday, calling on the agency to revise guidance.”This newest CDC guidance is not based on science, does not protect public health, and threatens the lives of patients, nurses, and other frontline workers across the country,” NNU Executive Director Bonnie Castillo said in a statement. She added that relaxing mask rules will disproportionally harm people of color.”Now is not the time to relax protective measures, and we are outraged that the CDC has done just that while we are still in the midst of the deadliest pandemic in a century,” Castillo said.The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Some states are heeding the CDC’s advice. Illinois, Connecticut, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, Minnesota, Nevada, Kentucky and Oregon have all said they would relax their mask rules. Texas had lifted its mask mandates before the CDC’s recommendation.Officials from New York and California, two of the hardest hit states, are currently reviewing the CDC’s changes and have not yet given guidance, meaning mandates are still in place.Some retailers, including Target, Gap, Home Depot and Ulta Beauty, have also said they’ll keep pandemic protocols in place.”Essential workers are still forced to play mask police for shoppers who are unvaccinated and refuse to follow local COVID safety measures. Are they now supposed to become the vaccination police?,” Marc Perrone, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, said in a statement shared with CNBC on Friday.Fauci said the CDC will be coming out in the next couple of weeks with more clarification on when masks are appropriate.As of Friday, more than 156 million Americans have received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine, according to the CDC. About 121 million are fully vaccinated, according to the agency. More

People enjoy a stroll through Historic Annapolis Main Street in Annapolis, Maryland on April 29, 2021.Marvin Joseph | The Washington Post | Getty ImagesFor Mitch Hughes, chief executive of Vizz, a construction management software firm he founded in 1996, the pandemic created ideal conditions for acquisitions.   Vizz, which runs a visualization platform that helps developers create realistic virtual models, didn’t have much presence on the manufacturing side. Manufacton, on the other hand, had software used for modular construction, compatible software, and a “dream team” of people. Yet, as a relatively small, young company, it didn’t have the traction to respond to the sudden increase in demand. “Covid created a hurdle for them, but it created an opportunity for us,” Hughes said. Early this year, Vizz acquired Manufacton, keeping on all its employees.  While plenty of small businesses owned by baby boomers were hit hard by the pandemic, there is also a large cohort of boomer businesses that have used the pandemic, and record low interest rates, as an opportunity to expand. According to a New York Fed and AARP study, older business owners age 45 and up entered the pandemic with more of a financial cushion than their younger counterparts. That cushion is more important than ever when the world turns upside down. According to a survey by BizBuySell, an online business for sale marketplace, 30% of buyers are baby boomers.More from CNBC’s Small Business PlaybookGary Vaynerchuk: The 3 social media ‘requirements’ for every small business’Shark’ investor Robert Herjavec: ‘I am highly, highly bullish’Life is Good was on brink of bankruptcy, here is what saved retailer: CEOHow to get billion-dollar retail to stock your million-dollar product ideaOffice reopening plans could make or break restaurants A pandemic may seem like a strange time for a booming M&A market. Many small businesses have suffered, and many failed. Data shows government assistance did not flow through the system in an equitable way, either. Meanwhile, the latest CNBC|SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey for Q2 2021 showed that many entrepreneurs expect better business conditions and increased revenue despite a net negative confidence reading overall and widespread fears about a tight labor market and rising cost of goods.But some business and investment experts say business owners run a big risk of not being bullish enough after the pandemic. Brokers noted that low interest rates, PPP loans, and other government assistance have all helped fuel acquisitions for entrepreneurs able to take advantage of conditions.  “They’re seeing a way they could buy a business and get a really great loan. There’s just a ton of opportunity. A lot of credit,” said Andrew Cagnetta, chief executive of Transworld Business Advisors in West Palm Beach, Florida.Main Street deal prices rise dramaticallyPrices have risen dramatically as a result of the bullish business buying. According to the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index, the net percent of owners raising average selling prices increased 10 points to 36%. That’s the highest reading since April 1981 when it was 43%. In its quarterly report, BizBuySell said the median sales price was $350,000 in the first quarter, a 30% jump from a year ago. “It’s gonna sound crazy, but last year was my best year ever,” said Sheila Spangler of Murphy Business Sales in Boise, Idaho, who focuses mainly on businesses valued less than $2 million. She adds that this year is also “super busy.” Of course, price fluctuations vary a lot by region and industry. Cagnetta said he’s seen average selling prices double over the last year.  I’ve run businesses for other people for most of my career. I always felt like if I can run a business for them, I’m pretty sure I can run a very successful business of my own.Kevin Glass, new franchise owner of Pinch a Penny Pool Patio SpaBuyers typically outnumber sellers, but the pandemic has exacerbated this. Cagnetta said he’s seen growth in a few categories of buyers. There’s private equity and SPAC (special purpose acquisition corporation) buyers. Then there are business owners who are already doing well and looking to expand. Another emerging group is boomer buyers who were formerly corporate employees. The pandemic forced many to rethink their lives – either because of layoffs or rethinking priorities. The same trend occurred after the Great Recession a decade ago when there was a “wave of dislocation,” said Bob House, president at BizBuySell. “People do turn to business ownership as a way to earn a living, as just a kind of a resetting,” House said. Kevin Glass became a franchise owner of Pinch a Penny Pool Patio Spa in Conroe, Texas, after being furloughed at the start of the pandemic. With 35 years in the oil and gas industry under his belt, Glass had already been thinking about the next chapter of his career. He knew he was in a vulnerable position even before the pandemic, and had been exploring options. Once he was furloughed, that search kicked into high gear. Glass says he got a retirement package when he was laid off, but would not have been able continue to live his current lifestyle on it. He used the retirement package to fund the business acquisition. Glass looked into franchises specifically because of the support of an established business model. He also considered the resale value. Pinch a Penny’s fixed interest financing program further sweetened the deal. “I’ve run businesses for other people for most of my career. I always felt like if I can run a business for them, I’m pretty sure I can run a very successful business of my own,” Glass said. Business sectors where deals are boomingWhile the number of transactions has yet to reach pre-pandemic levels, it’s starting to pick up, especially for businesses that performed well throughout the pandemic, such as liquor stores, home improvement businesses, e-commerce sites, medical businesses, manufacturers, and distributors. Still, brokers say the anticipated generational wealth transfer with boomers selling their businesses has yet to occur. It is not necessarily the children of boomer owners who are buying. Boomers entrepreneurs might usually pass their businesses on to their kids, but some are finding that their children don’t want the business. Boomers make up 41% of small business or franchise owners, second to Gen X at 44%, according to a survey by Guidant and the Small Business Alliance.”The seller tsunami has not happened yet,” Cagnetta said. “Business was very good until the pandemic hit, then everyone’s been in a holding pattern. But I do think they’re coming out to sell now,” he added.One major factor brokers pointed to is an anticipated tax increase. Biden’s tax proposals would increase taxes on capital gains exceeding $1 million. The plan calls for an exemption for small businesses as long as they remain family-owned and operated. While it’s too early to say how the plan will work out or if it will go through, brokers say it’s putting pressure on business owners to sell. More