IAG share price: Boss sees new Norwegian bid as unlikely

The chief executive of British Airways and Iberia parent International Consolidated Airlines Group (LON:IAG) says that the company is unlikely to renew its interest in Norwegian Air, but ‘never say never,’ Reuters has reported. The comments came after the FTSE 100 company announced in January that it was not planning to bid for low-cost transatlantic carrier and that it would be selling  its 3.93-percent shareholding in the airline in due course.

IAG’s share price has fallen deep into the red in today’s session, having given up 1.50 percent to 563.80p as of 10:02 GMT. The stock is underperforming the broader UK market, with the benchmark FTSE 100 index currently standing 0.51 percent lower at 7,159.18 points.

Willie Walsh comments on Norwegian

Reuters reported yesterday that IAG’s chief executive Willie Walsh had told reporters that he would ‘never say never’ about a new bid for Norwegian, but that he thought it was ‘unlikely’.

“If there was a case that we might have done that (renewed our interest), we probably would have retained the shares in Norwegian,” he pointed out. When asked if IAG’s long-haul low-cost airline Level  could expand into Scandinavia, Walsh said that “it could, ultimately”.

“There are several significant markets that are underserved from a long-haul point of view and can be best served by a low-cost model,” he pointed out.

Analysts on British Airways parent

Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed IAG as a ‘sector performer’ today, without specifying a price target on the shares, while earlier this month, Barclays, which sees the group as a ‘buy,’ set a valuation of 700p on the stock. According to MarketBeat, the blue-chip group currently has a consensus ‘hold’ rating and an average price target of 702.87p.

As of 10:12 GMT, Thursday, 07 March, International Consolidated Airlines Grp share price is 563.80p.