11th Jul 2014 10:20
LONDON (Alliance News) - All Leisure Group PLC Friday said its pretax loss, without including losses on derivatives, narrowed in its first-half due to a reduction in restructuring costs and that recent political events in the Black Sea have hit trading, the results of which will be seen later in the year.
The niche cruise and tour operator specialising in the over-55s market said its pretax loss, not including derivatives losses, narrowed to GBP11.5 million for the six months ended April 30 from GBP12.6 million the previous year.
The company said it reduced restructuring costs during the period following successful integration of its Tour Operations business last year and improved its year-on-year Tour Operating performance despite geopolitical events reducing operations in Egypt.
All Leisure said both its Tour Operating and Cruise divisions performed in line with expectations in spite of tough trading conditions and it has sold 85% of budgeted escorted tour revenue and 91% of budgeted cruise revenues. Despite this, its revenues fell 7.9% to GBP49.1 million from GBP53.3 million previously.
"I am extremely pleased to report that we are continuing to enjoy the benefits of integrating the Tour Operating and Cruise divisions into the group with the Tour Operating division complementing our existing products even after a sizeable reduction in our Egyptian Nile tour programme and creating encouraging cross-selling opportunities," Executive Chairman Roger Allard said in a statement.
However, the company said if losses on derivatives of GBP3.9 million were included, its loss after tax widened during the period to GBP15.6 million from GBP13.4 million previously.
All Leisure also said that political and civil unrest in Ukraine and Crimea has hit trading in the Black Sea where the company have two planned cruises in the second-half of the year, which originally included ports of call in the crisis-stricken region.
The company said it has now had to offer customers the opportunity to cancel or transfer, and it is revising its itineraries for the two cruises. It said the financial impact of the situation will not be known until later in the year.
"The recent political and civil unrest in the Ukraine and Crimea has regrettably led to cruises being rescheduled and has resulted in a large number of cancellations. We are currently reselling the cabins with two revised itineraries; these cruises are departing August and October respectively," Allard said.
Looking further forward, the company maintains that the successful integration of its tour operating business and restructuring programme will lead to an increase in year-on-year revenues for 2015.
"We believe that we have laid solid foundations for future growth which can be enjoyed once the wider economic environment and trading conditions improve," he added.
All Leisure shares were trading down 6.7% to 42.00 pence on Friday.
By Tom McIvor; [email protected]; @TomMcIvor1
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