15th Feb 2007 14:30
Holidaybreak PLC15 February 2007 15 February 2007: For immediate release HOLIDAYBREAK PLC AGM update Holidaybreak, the European specialist holiday group, today issues an update oncurrent trading and outlook to coincide with its AGM. TRADING IN LINE WITH MANAGEMENT EXPECTATIONS Sales intake for Hotel Breaks is currently 10% above last year. The recovery inmarket conditions experienced in the second half of last financial year hascontinued. Value-added business into London, with its strong theatre offerings,has been particularly buoyant. Value-added products now account for 40% ofSuperbreak's sales. As previously disclosed, margins will be lower this year aswe continue to invest in developing our on-line offering. Recent enhancementsinclude maps and a facility to pay by PayPal. Customer feedback facilities willbe "live" in the near future. Adventure Travel has once again built on a strong start and current like forlike sales are 8% up. We anticipate another good performance from this divisionin the current year. The German businesses we acquired at the end of lastfinancial year, Carpe Diem and TravelWorks, have shown encouraging year on yeargrowth. Camping sales to date are 2% lower than last year in the context of a 4%reduction in capacity. We are currently over 65% booked for the whole season, inline with plan. As previously announced, we are investing £9.5m (net of disposalproceeds) in the current financial year to replace older mobile homes. Overall trading is in line with management expectations. OUTLOOK AND STRATEGY The Group once again expects to deliver double-digit margins, well aboveindustry norms. Cash generation is expected to remain strong while investing£16m (net of disposals) in capital expenditure across the divisions this year. The Group has the financial strength and resilience to exploit and benefit fromtrends in a travel market which continues to change significantly. We intend togrow the portfolio of brands under the Holidaybreak umbrella organically and byacquisition. We recently acquired West End Theatre Bookings Limited which willallow us to increase value-added sales into London. We have a good pipeline ofpotential acquisitions as we continue to pursue selected growth opportunities inattractive markets which should deliver good financial returns and generatecash. INTERIM RESULTS We expect to announce our Interim Results for the six months ended 31 March 2007on 18 May 2007. Enquiries: Carl Michel / Bob Baddeley Holidaybreak +44 (0) 1606 787100James Hogan / Craig Breheny / Ash Spiegelberg Brunswick +44 (0)20 7404 5959 Note to Editors Holidaybreak (HBR.L) is listed on the London Stock Exchange. The Europeanspecialist holiday group sold 3.1m holidays in the year ended 30 September 2006(2005: 3.0m). 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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