Holidaybreak ‘well positioned’ for acquisitions
Holidaybreak reduced winter pre-tax losses to £6.3 million in the half year to March against £8.6 million the previous year.
The company sold 545,000 hoidays in the period, up from 484,000, and said hotel breaks and adventure travel now account for 70% of its annual business.
Revealing half year results, Holidaybreak said it was still evaluating expressions of interest for its camping division but said there was “no certainty” any deal will be concluded.
Hotel breaks generated an operating profit of £6.5 million in the six months, down from £7.3 million, with revenues declining by 8% to £55.2 million.
Adventure travel saw a first half operating profit of £800,000, up by £200,000, with revenues rising by 35% to £33.5 million.
Camping incurred a reduced operating loss of £13.1 million against £14.3 million. Sales for 2006 are 7% down but overall capacity has been cut by 16%.
The company said it was “well positioned to grow by acquisition” and was continuing to consider a number of potential transactions.
Chief executive Carl Michel said: “The hotel breaks division is delivering to expectations in a difficult marketplace. The adventure travel business continues to perform strongly and camping continues to generate cash and good margins.
“Holidaybreak’s presence in european markets continues to grow. Current trading in all our divisions is in line with expectations and management expects to achieve a satisfactory trading outcome for the full year.”
Report by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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