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LONDON (Reuters) - EasyJet upgraded its 2006 profit forecast on Friday, sending its shares to a four-year high as passengers spent more money on drinks, online insurance, hotels and car hire.

The Luton Airport-based company (EZJ.L: Quote, Profile, Research), Europe's second-largest budget carrier after Ryanair (RYA.I: Quote, Profile, Research), said it expected sales of such ancillary items to rise by 30 percent in 2006 as it pulled in 3-4 percent better revenues per seat.

EasyJet, which carried nearly 2.59 million passengers last month, up 15.6 percent from a year earlier, said revenue-per-seat was 17 percent higher from April through June than in the same period in 2005, helped by the timing of the busy Easter holiday break.

"Previously, our profit guidance for the full year was growth of 10 percent to 15 percent ... We now expect pretax profit growth for the full year to be in the range of 40 percent to 50 percent."

EasyJet shares soared as much as 8.7 percent to a four-year high of 425 pence and by 8:50 a.m. were 5.8 percent stronger at 413p, valuing the group at almost 1.7 billion pounds.

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