On the Beach Group planning head office move

On the Beach Group is considering relocating its head office to make it easier to attract and retain top talent, it revealed today in its full year trading update.

A spokesman said the online travel agent, the majority of whose 330 or so staff are based in Cheadle just outside Manchester, is looking at a number of options, including moving into the city centre.

This could potentially also involve relocating a small number of staff based in Cramlington in Northumberland who are part of Sunshine.co.uk, which was bought by On the Beach for £12 million in May.

However, the spokesman stressed nothing had been decided and he said the move was ‘not imminent’.

"They may keep a secondary location, they are looking at all possibilities," he said. "There has been no decision about the location of Sunshine, which is included in the review."

The online travel agent said it was also reviewing its reward mechanism for top performers and further details on both projects will be provided ‘in due course’.

On the Beach Group saw a 17% increase in its UK revenue in the year to the end of September after a 26% growth in the second half.

Excluding the acquisition of Sunshine.co.uk in May, UK revenue growth was 14%, with second half revenue up 21%.

The Group said it had seen ‘significant’ growth for the majority of the key summer trading period, despite some softness in the weeks that followed the Barcelona terrorist attack in August.

As a result, it will launch in its third international market, Denmark, next year.

It said the integration of Sunshine.co.uk was now ‘substantially complete’.  "Sunshine’s trading since acquisition is in line with our expectations," it added.

"We have continued to make good progress in our international markets, with full year revenue growth of 48%.

" We are particularly encouraged by the significant revenue growth in H2 of 70% and that the Group’s net investment in international operations is in line with expectations. This performance supports our plans to launch in our third international market, Denmark, early in 2018.

"With regard to the recent failure of Monarch, On the Beach continues to focus on assisting customers that booked to fly with Monarch Airlines in the coming weeks and months."

On the Beach has scheduled airline failure insurance in place, which covers the failure of Monarch Airlines, but the Board anticipates that there will be a one-off exceptional cash cost associate with helping customers to organise alternative arrangements or providing refunds.

The Group will announce its audited Preliminary Results on 30 November 2017.

Chief executive Simon Cooper said: "The Group has traded well in the year with a particularly strong performance in the second half during the key summer trading period.

"The integration of Sunshine.co.uk Limited, acquired in May 2017, has progressed in line with our expectations.

"We have continued to increase market share in our international markets and delivered strong revenue growth in the year. As a result of this performance, we are pleased to be launching in our third international market, Denmark, early in 2018."