Half Yearly Report
Capital refinancing to support the continuing transformation of Thomas Cook, announced separately today
· £425 million proposed firm placing and rights issue, fully underwritten
· Euro 525 million New Bond Issue maturing 2020, fully underwritten
· £691 million New Facilities Agreement
Improving financial performance
· First half underlying EBIT on a like for like basis improved by £58.7 million to £(197.5) million compared with the same period last year.
· Underlying gross margin on a like for like basis improved by 110 basis points to 20.7% compared with the same period last year
· Net Debt declined £175.4 million to £1.2 billion at 31 March 2013 compared with 31 March 2012
· Encouraging current trading with strong bookings and gross margins
Delivering against targets and KPIs
· We delivered £47 million of cost out and profit improvement benefits in H1 2013, taking the cumulative achievement by the end of March 2013 to £107 million, ahead of plan. This represents 74% of the target of £145 million that we had planned to achieve by the end of FY13. We have brought forward the timetable in which to realise FY13 benefits, increasing the cumulative target for FY13 from £145 million to £170 million
· We have increased the total cost-out and profit improvement target for FY15 from £350 million to £390 million, reflecting a further £40 million of benefits that have been identified as being deliverable from existing initiatives
· We have completed the disposal of our North American business for net cash proceeds of £3.4 million
· We have appointed a new Global Head of Web, a new Chief Technology Officer, and announced a new partnership with Triporati as we develop our 'high touch high tech' strategy
Financial Highlights
· Underlying EBIT on a like for like basis improved by £58.7 million due to the previously announced UK turnaround plan and Group-wide cost out initiatives and improved capacity management. UK underlying EBIT improved by £29.5 million
· Group underlying gross margin, on a like for like basis, improved by 110 basis points and the UK underlying gross margin, on a like for like basis, improved by 110 basis points, reflecting more focussed capacity management
· Underlying free cash flow improved by £198.1 million
· Net debt declined by £175.4 million primarily reflecting better working capital management processes