MyTravel in deeper water

THE horrendous tale of tourists who were stranded for 48 hours at Gatwick while waiting for a flight to Bodrum, Turkey heaped yet more pain on

The struggling company's shares nosedived 1/2p to an all-time low of 5 3/4p amid growing speculation that its bankers will soon pull the plug.

MyTravel, some £1.3bn in debt, is in negotiations with its banks over a financial restructuring package that could include a debt-for-equity swap.

One fund manager yesterday said: 'It looks bad. MyTravel has failed to hedge sufficiently against the big hike in fuel costs. It has been run in the interest of its bankers for months, but they are now losing patience and do not want to throw good money after bad.

'Get the summer months out of the way and then the only place the company will be going is the knacker's yard. Poor shareholders should sell in the market while they can.'

The Airtours-to-Going Places company flirted with disaster two years ago. It laid off some 2,000 staff and issued a string of profit warnings that triggered a boardroom clear-out. The exodus of top executives has continued. Only last week, Tim Jeans, the chief operating officer of its airline division, said cheerio.

The two major players in the online travel trade recently reported dire trading statements and remain in the doghouse. Lastminute.com shed 3p more to 102p and ebookers 4 1/4p to 121 1/4p.

Reassuring interim figures from insurer Royal & SunAlliance (2 1/2p up at 71 1/4p) helped prop up the Footsie, which closed 15.9 points better at 4328.1.

Wall Street provided little help, falling 88 points in the early stages following disappointing third-quarter figures-from Hewlett-Packard, 179p down at 886p. Nasdaq lost 23 points.

Mortgage bank Bradford & Bingley, in which I am a small shareholder, firmed 5 3/4p to 279p. Buyers nibbled away amid revived gossip that perhaps Barclays (3 1/2p up at 515p) could launch a bid for B&B in defence against a bid for itself from US giant Bank of America.

Mayor Ken Livingstone's controversial plans to extend London's congestion charge zone westwards helped Capita Group rise 5 1/4p to 304p. Capita runs the congestion charge scheme, which helped first-half profits rise 25% to £63.6m.

Pay-TV giant BSkyB remained friendless at 466p, down 11p, a low for the year. Media guru Lorna Tilbian at Numis Securities believes the shares - 20% down since chief executive James Murdoch outlined a strategy for driving long-term growth - look oversold. She says the strategy has come at the right time. BSkyB will emerge as a bigger and stronger group that will create significant long-term value for shareholders.

After Deutsche Bank upgraded to buy from hold and repeated its 145p target price, Carphone Warehouse buzzed 6 1/2p higher to 129p.

A place in the Footsie next month beckons for oil explorer Cairn Energy after it gushed 61p to an all-time peak of 1469p after signing petroleum agreements with the government of Nepal for a 100% operated interest in five new exploration blocks.

Aim-quoted Bond International, which provides software for international recruitment and human resources industries, advanced 5p to 55p. It has signed a £500,000 agreement to supply its Adapt software to Spring Group.

Advanced Technology, the radio communications provider, held at 6p following a placing of 8.6m shares at 5p to raise £430,750.

Bull breeding company Genus firmed 2 1/2p to 222 1/2p on the upbeat tenor of retiring chairman John Beckett's AGM address. Trade in the first quarter was in line with expectations. Lazards placed 1m shares at 210p to help finance the acquisition of Supersires.

Human resources minnow Constellation Corporation cheapened a fraction to 0.09p following disappointing interims and news that a fundraising exercise has only been partially successful. The company is continuing to have discussions with potential investors to secure future strategy.