http://www.tuitravelplc.com/

TUI Travel is one of the world’s leading leisure travel groups, with over 220 trusted brands in 180 countries and more than 30 million customers.

‘Making travel experiences special’ underpins everything we do and keeps our focus on providing the unrivalled choice, professionalism and confidence our customers and stakeholders can rely on, now and in the future.

Our business is grouped into three sectors, comprising many of the best loved and market-leading travel brands worldwide – Mainstream, Accommodation & Destinations and Specialist & Activity. From the most popular holiday brands to an unparalleled collection of specialist travel providers, we offer the breadth and depth of experiences and expertise for every conceivable type of traveller.

We are a truly global business, employing approximately 55,000 people and operating in 31 key source markets worldwide. As a dynamic, influential company we are committed to responsible leadership in the travel sector. Our head office is in the UK and TUI Travel PLC is listed on the London Stock Exchange as a member of the FTSE 100 and FTSE4Good indices with the ticker code TT.

Thursday will bring us a pre-close trading update from TUI Travel before the company releases full-year results for the year ending 30 September. Results for the third quarter, released on 8 August, told us of operating profit for the quarter falling by 16% to £74m. But that's not too bad, considering the tough economic times we're in, and there was encouraging news of rising bookings this summer.

TUI has fared quite a bit better than some rivals, like Thomas Cook Group which nearly went to the wall and is still saddled with very large amounts of debt. By comparison, TUI's forecast 5% dividend looks good, with the 232p shares on a prospective P/E of only 10. They say that hard times sort of the strong from the weak, and TUI is looking like one of the strong ones to me.

On the results front, package tour operator TUI Travel will issue a pre-close period trading update.

The consensus estimate for full-year earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) is £480m and TUI's management is confident of achieving this despite foreseeing a large negative foreign exchange impact. Broker Jefferies Hoare Govett thinks that a weaker euro could hit fourth-quarter EBIT by up to £40m, implying underlying upgrades of 8%.

Peel Hunt, meanwhile, thinks the group will have had a solid end to its trading year, with stable demand and pricing in all core markets with the exception of France.

"A weak euro will have been a negative factor in the latter half of the year but this is largely a translation dynamic not a trading one. Overall we do not expect any change in the consistency of the message," the broker said.

Trading Update

Highlights

· Remain on track to meet our full year expectations.

· Strong trading for Summer 2012 high season, with improved margins and load factors versus the prior year.

· Encouraging start to Winter 2012/13 trading. Strong differentiated product and online sales performance, particularly in the UK and Nordics.

· In A&D, Winter 2012/13 bookings are up 14% and sales (TTV) up 32% versus the prior year.

· In the UK, early bookings for Summer 2013 are significantly outperforming the market, particularly for our differentiated product.

· Business improvement programme progressing to plan.

..UPDATE 1-TUI Travel sees encouraging winter holiday sales

Reuters - UK Focus – 58 minutes ago


LONDON, Sept 27 (Reuters) - TUI Travel (Other OTC: TTVLF.PK - news) , the world's biggest tour operator, said it had sold more summer holidays this year than a year ago and that early sales of winter getaways had been encouraging.

The group, which owns Thomson and First Choice, on Thursday said it now had fewer holidays left to sell than at this stage last year. It said year-on-year summer holiday sales were up 6 percent in Northern Europe, 5 percent higher in central Europe (Chicago Options: ^REURUSD - news) and 2 percent up in Western Europe.

"We remain on track to meet our full year expectations, with strong underlying trading offset by the impact of re-translation of fourth quarter Eurozone earnings," chief executive Peter Long said in a statement.

"Our continued outperformance in a challenging macroeconomic environment demonstrates our robust strategy is delivering clear results."

TUI Travel is expected to report an average pretax profit of 356.3 million pounds ($575.30 million) for the year to the end of September, according to a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S poll of 16 analysts.

The FTSE 100 company said although it was relatively early in the booking cycle, winter 2012/13 sales had been encouraging since August with load factors in line with its expectations.

Winter (Stuttgart: A0XFUK - news) holiday sales had been especially strong in northern and central Europe, it said.

The company said it was outperforming competitors in Britain, helping to offset weaker trading in France.

Shares in TUI Travel, which have risen 40 percent in the last three months, closed at 230.1 pence on Wednesday, valuing the group at around 2.6 billion pounds.


..

TUI Travel , which I just added to our Beginners' Portfolio watchlist, saw its shares gain a modest 4p (1.7%) to 234p after releasing a trading update. The travel firm saw strong trading for the summer high season, and the winter season is also off to a good start. Margins are improving, and things are on track to meet current full year expectations.

And those expectations include a dividend yield of around 5% from shares that are on a forward price-to-earnings ratio of under 10.

:-))

TUI Travel: Morgan Stanley moves target price from 200p to 250p, equal weight rating maintained.

Tour operator TUI travel (LON:TT.) is benefiting from the renaissance of the package holiday, broker Morgan Stanley suggested today.

Analyst Andrea Ferraz reckons the all-in holidays look to be back in fashion after UK package volumes grew over the last two years following years in the doldrums.

Just as surprising to the number cruncher is that TUI looks set to beat forecasts, with earnings potentially hitting 42p per share.

The analyst also reckons the decline at other travel agents such as Thomas Cook (LON:TCG) may have boosted TUI.

However, with shares having lifted around 60% since their lows and a price-to-earnings ratio of 10, “investors need to believe in the bull case to buy the shares, but that is still a stretch”, the analyst added.

Barclays Capital Overweight 267.60 267.60 250.00 320.00 Reiterates

Package tour operator TUI travel’s full-year results on Tuesday are a barely needed reminder that it will soon be time to start thinking about booking a summer holiday.

The market is expecting TUI, which trades under a number of brands, including Airtours and Thomson, to reveal a slight decline in revenue to £14.62bn from £14.69bn last year.

Headline profit before tax is seen easing to £310.1mln from £360mln the year before. Analysts have pencilled in earnings per share (EPS) of 23.56p, barely changed from last year. The full-year dividend is tipped to rise to 11.7p from 11.30p.

The company’s results announcement is also expected to contain details of the road map for growth, though the future of the Eurozone is doubtless making route planning difficult for management.

Interim Results

Highlights

· Record year of profit and improved operational efficiency

- Operating profit increase of 12% to £526m on a constant currency* basis. Underlying operating profit of £490m (2011: £471m), an increase of 4%.

- Record Mainstream underlying operating profits, on a constant currency* basis, in all markets with the exception of France and Southern Europe.

- Outstanding performance in the UK with a record underlying operating profit of £197m (2011: £149m) and operating profit margins of 5.4%, up from 4.2% in the prior year.

- Business improvement programme outperformance with £42m delivered in the year.

- Strong underlying earnings per share growth of 9% to 25.8p (2011: 23.6p). Statutory earnings per share grew by 62% to 12.5p (2011: 7.7p).

- Final dividend increase of 4% to 8.3p per share (2011: 8.0p), resulting in a full year dividend of 11.7p per share (2011: 11.3p).

· Modern Mainstream strategy delivering results

- Sales of higher margin unique holidays increased by three percentage points to 65% of Mainstream holidays.

- Online sales up three percentage points to 33% of Mainstream sales. Direct distribution up two percentage points to 65% of Mainstream sales.

· Significant international expansion across Online Accommodation

- Online Accommodation profits up 3% to £35m, including an £11m investment in our Accommodation OTA.

- Accommodation Wholesaler continues to consolidate its global leadership position; TTV growth of 13% to £1.4bn.

- Accommodation OTA - Continued investment in high growth markets; TTV growth of 4% to £447m including AsiaRooms growth of 25%.

· Clear strategy continuing to drive strong trading momentum

- Very encouraging Winter 2012/13 trading.

- Strong Summer 2013 bookings in the UK, Nordics and Germany. Significant growth in profitable market share in the UK.

- Clear roadmap for sustainable future growth with an annualised underlying operating profit growth rate of between 7 to 10%.

Absolutely going for it today following these results. Just goes to show what a load of utter nonsense there is in the press about people who can't afford to feed their children. Encouraging Winter trading and strong Summer bookings. What recession, where?

doodlebug - You been a complete knobhead all your life or is this a new career? "What recession, where ?" Open your eyes you muppet!

:-))

Chris Carson - charming chap that you obviously are - the newspapers keep telling us that everyone is broke and we are in a recession, but somehow people still manage to find the money to spend on holidays. Do you understand that simple translation of what I was trying to say? Thank you for the compliments. Great bulletin board this, I have so far been called "scum", "pleb", "knobhead", "muppet" and I can't remember the other insult. Thankfully, there also seem to be some class acts on moneyam to balance things out.

The results today perhaps show the British public are not giving up on their holidays lightly, the same for all the other countries Tui operates in.( Same as fish and chips on Friday and some plants for the garden in summer)
Tui seem to have got the choice of holidays right for consumers that have tightened
their belts. What a difference to Thomas Cook.

TUI travel announced preliminary results for the year ended 30th September 2012 yesterday. Revenues were down 2% to £14.46bn, as organic growth of 2% was offset by foreign currency translation impact of 4%. Underlying operating profit rose 4% to £490m, with record mainstream underlying operating profits, on a constant currency basis, across all markets excluding France and Southern Europe. The UK market delivered a tremendous performance with record underlying operating profit of £197m (FY2011: £149m) and operating profit margins of 5.4%, up from 4.2% in the previous year. The French operation reported an underlying operating loss of £47m. Pre-tax profit on an underlying basis increased 8% to £390m. Growth was also supplemented by £42m in cost savings from the business improvement programme. Basic EPS on an underlying basis rose 9% to 25.8p. Sales of higher margin unique holidays rose by three percentage points to 65% of Mainstream holidays. Total Mainstream sales in the winter 2012/13 season were up 3% y-o-y, despite customer’s numbers dropping 1%. The management said that, excluding France, trading for both winter 2012/13 and summer 2013 were very encouraging. The management is confident that its new strategy for growth could deliver an underlying operating profit CAGR of between 7 to 10% over the next five years. The Board raised its final dividend per share to 8.3p from 8p, taking the full-year dividend to 11.7p, a 4% increase from last year. The stock rose 3.4% yesterday.

TUI Travel: Exane BNP raises target price from 260p to 300p, while maintaining a neutral rating.

JPMorgan Cazenove tipsters are backing TUI travel (LON:TT.) as their top pick of the European tour operators.

After a strong set of full-year results, the broker raises its target price a touch to 320p, above the current price of 287p.

The broker reiterated its ‘overweight’ rating on the stock and is eagerly awaiting more updates from the company that claims to have made “a very encouraging start” to 2013.

Looks like these replace PNN in the FTSE. FTSE 100 Constituent Changes