19th May 2016 07:00
LONDON (Alliance News) - Thomas Cook Group PLC on Thursday reported a narrowed pretax loss in the first half of its financial year although revenue slipped and it warned on the outlook for the full year due to reduced demand for Turkey and Belgium.
The travel operator said its pretax loss in the six months ended March 31 narrowed to GBP288 million from GBP303 million in the same period the year before, although revenue slipped to GBP2.67 billion from GBP2.74 billion.
Thomas Cook said revenue grew by 0.3% on a like-for-like basis, which excludes foreign exchange movements. The narrowed loss was also helped by lower finance costs and operating expenses.
Thomas Cook said bookings for summer 2016 are down 5% year-on-year, but excluding Turkey are up by 6% with growing sales to the Western Mediterranean and long-haul destinations in line with increased demand to those locations.
Summer bookings to the Balearic Islands are up by 14%, and up by 23% and 29% to the Canary Islands and the US, respectively, although Thomas Cook said strong growth to alternative destinations is not yet fully offsetting the weak demand for Turkey.
As a result of this, and a sharp decline in demand in Belgium following the terrorist attacks in Brussels in March, Thomas Cook now expects underlying earnings before interest and tax for the full year to be between GBP310 million and GBP335 million, which is at the lower end of analyst expectations.
"Despite the current market environment, I am confident that the actions we are taking to focus on customer excellence, strengthen our holiday offering, invest in omni-channel distribution, and bring our businesses closer together mean we're well positioned to meet our existing growth expectations to financial 2018, creating value for both customers and shareholders," Chief Executive Peter Fankhauser said in a statement.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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