Ryanair officically withdraws bid

In a brief statement to the stock exchange this afternoon, Ryanair officially withdrew it's bid for Aer Lingus following the refusal of the Irish government to sell it's share in the former state airline. Shares in Ryanair closed up 3% this evening at €3.10.

The fat lady hasn't sung on this particular episode yet with Ryanair's high court action against the Takeover Panel to be heard early next week. The action relates to the ITP's direction to public broadcaster RTE in which the Takeover Panel requested the cancellation of a live televised debate between Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary and Aer Lingus Chief Executive Dermot Mannion.

Meanwhile, Aer Lingus have called on staff at the airline to come together to build a better airline as they expect Ryanair to mount another bid at some stage in the future. The 'call to arms' came in the form of a  webcast from Chief Executive Dermot Mannion and Chief Financial Officer Sean Coyle which was emailed to staff yesterday.