Stelios to step down early from easyJet board

Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the chairman of easyJet, revealed yesterday that he intends to step down from the board of the no-frills airline he founded five months earlier than planned "selfishly" to free up more time for new ventures.

The easyGroup entrepreneur, who announced his resignation in April amid rising City concern at his continuing executive position, will now leave on 26 November, the day of easyJet's annual results.

In an attempt to halt the decline in the airline's share price that has seen its stock halve since its 504p peak in March, Stelios – as he is universally known – sought to ease market jitters that the group might miss its forecast 20 per cent earnings-per-share growth after its acquisition of Go Fly last month.

"Everything I hear leads me to be confident that the full-year results to September 2002 will be in line with market expectations," he said yesterday, adding that the integration of its former rival was "well under way". Despite lingering scepticism from some analysts at the rationale for the Go deal, the market was suitably reassured and easyJet shares rose 9 per cent to 266p.

Commenting on the slew of recent operational problems that saw passengers stage sit-ins in protest at last-minute route changes and which were compounded by chaotic new staff rosters, Stelios said punctuality was back to normal. Seventy per cent of flights left within 15 minutes of their scheduled departure time and 92 per cent left within one hour of that, he added.

Stelios said he had decided to step down ahead of the group's annual general meeting next March to give the new chairman, Sir Colin Chandler, a clear run at the group's new financial year and "rather selfishly" to free up his time for newer ventures such as easyInternetCafé and easyCar.

While Stelios said he reserved the right to sell some of his near 22 per cent stake in easyJet "from time to time" to finance his burgeoning new enterprises, he added that he had "no present intention to sell any in the near future".

Although Stelios' stake was diluted from 27.4 per cent after easyJet's rights issue to finance the Go deal, he has not sold down his shareholding since announcing his intention to leave. Stelios receives no salary from any of his companies, nor any dividends, so relies on occasional share sales to raise fresh funds. His brother and sister own a further 24.4 per cent of easyJet.

The City played down the significance of Stelios' earlier departure date, although analysts at Merrill Lynch said that "a broader ... issue could re-emerge, regarding the exit of a powerful talismanic and motivational influence within the organisation".

Stelios said that after a difficult time, easyInternetCafé "had turned the corner". The Greek entrepreneur is exploring a number of deals to expand the venture and has even approached the ailing Coffee Republic about buying some of its sites. He said easyCar, which is reported to be close to break-even, was on track for an initial public offering at the end of 2004. Two of his latest ideas, which he will now be free to develop, are easyCinema, which promises to offer seats at prices starting at 20p, and easyDorm, a chain of hostels providing cheap accommodation.