Minoan announces ‘robust’ performance
Scottish travel group Minoan announced to the London Stock Exchange today that it was expecting to confirm profits of about £400,000 for last year.
In an update on the group’s trading activity ahead of the publication of its end of year results in March, Minoan said its performance was "robust" and there were positive development on its plans to build a resort in Crete.
It said revenues for the year ended October 31 were "in excess of £37 million" and operating profits were around £400,000 for the year.
"This is after costs of integrating the businesses acquired as a result of the Group’s buy-and-build strategy and building the technical platform to handle further expansion," said the statement.
"The good performance from the travel business helped to reduce losses at the Group level, which are expected to be lower than in the previous period despite the continuing costs of developing the Crete project, central costs and the share based payments charge."
While admitting that the group’s cash balances have been hit by "less advantageous terms from major suppliers", the requirements of merchant card acquiring arrangements and the application of Flight Plus, it said they remained healthy.
"Trading since the financial year end has been very positive with commission up in excess of 20% across the travel business as a whole compared with the same period last year.
"The full year figures for 2013 are expected to show a substantial improvement compared to those for 2012. "
It also confirmed that it had installed the first 50 computerised travel agency kiosks in sub-post offices, following the exclusive agreement with the National Federation of Sub Postmasters announced late last year to install kiosks across the UK’s network of more than 9,000 sub post offices.
The group said it was close to submitting an outline planning application for its Crete project, which was granted Fast Track status by the Greek government last September.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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