Menzies rises on profits boost

John Menzies, which runs check-in, baggage handling and ticket desks for 300 airlines around the world, said yesterday that its annual pre-tax profit would be more than 20 per cent higher than last year.

The company's newspaper and magazine distribution division, which delivers 5.5 million papers a day, is also making "positive progress," Menzies said. The firm, founded in 1833, pulled out of the high street in 1998. It will publish preliminary results in March. Its shares rose 2p to 527p.