14th Mar 2006 14:30
Holidaybreak PLC14 March 2006 HOLIDAYBREAK PLC AGM update on current trading and outlook Holidaybreak, the European specialist holiday group, today issues an update oncurrent trading and outlook to coincide with its AGM. Sales for Hotel Breaks are currently 3% below last year. This decline wasanticipated but the expected recovery in demand post Christmas, particularlyinto London, has so far been slower than expected. Online sales continue to growwell and are up 10% on the comparative period last year with encouraging take upof our travel agency website by high street outlets. Adventure Travel has once again built on a strong start and sales are 11%higher. We anticipate another good performance from this division in the currentyear. Camping sales to date are 7% lower than last year in the context of a 16%reduction in capacity. We are currently over 75% booked for the whole season,slightly ahead of plan and last year. The emphasis to date has been on gettingbetter low season occupancy. Overall, we remain focused on maximising yields and optimising distribution,particularly through the internet, which now accounts for more than 40% of salesand continues to grow. The Group has the financial strength to capitalise onchanging market trends and thus intends to grow organically and, whereappropriate, by acquisition. We remain happy with both our Dutch acquisitions.We will continue to pursue selected international growth opportunities inattractive markets which have the potential to deliver good financial returns. The Group once again expects to deliver double-digit margins, well aboveindustry norms. Cash generation remains strong and we anticipate a substantialreduction in the year-end net debt position. We expect to announce our Interim Results for the half-year ended 31 March 2006on 17 May 2006. Enquiries: Carl Michel / Robert Baddeley Holidaybreak +44 (0) 1606 787100 James Hogan / Craig Breheny / Lucie Anne Brailsford Brunswick +44 (0)20 74045959 Note to Editors Holidaybreak (HBR.L) is listed on the London Stock Exchange. The Europeanspecialist holiday group sold 3.0m holidays in the year ended 30 September 2005(2004: 2.3m). Holidaybreak has three operating divisions: Hotel Breaks,Adventure Travel and Camping. Each is a market leader in its respectivespecialist sector of the European holiday industry, has multi-channeldistribution and is recognised for providing high standards of product andservice quality. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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