19th Nov 2015 09:12
LONDON (Alliance News) - Leisure travel and distribution and logistics company Dart Group PLC on Thursday said its pretax profit more than doubled in the first half following a very strong summer season, which helped revenue higher and led the group to hike its interim dividend by 20%.
Dart said its pretax profit for the six months to the end of September was GBP146.8 million, up from GBP71.7 million a year earlier, as revenue rose to GBP1.02 billion from GBP902.2 million and its operating profit margin improved by 6.4 percentage points to 14.4%. It will pay an interim dividend of 0.90 pence per share, up from 0.75p.
The rise in revenue and margins was underpinned by a very strong summer season for Dart's leisure travel business, where revenue rose 15% thanks to a 22% rise in the number Jet2holidays package holiday customers. In addition, its Jet2 airline business delivered a big improvement in load factor in the half, up to 94.1% from 91.8%.
Distribution and logistics revenue declined in the half, though improved its performance year-on-year.
Dart does expect losses to climb in the second half due to increased investments in its leisure travel arm, but is optimistic it will meet current market expectations for the full year. The company said its winter bookings for the leisure travel business are in line with its forecasts.
Shares in Dart were up 1.5% to 476.75p on Thursday.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
DTG.L