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On The Beach Group PLC noted some positive developments in its interim results on Tuesday, but warned of an increasingly uncertain consumer environment going forward.
In its half-year ended March 31, the Manchester-based online travel agent posted revenue of £52.9 million, multiplied from £4.4 million the year before. This was 83% of £63.5 million in the first half of financial 2019, before Covid-19.
Shares in On the Beach were down 7.9% to 221.50 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.
Following the easing of travel restrictions in January, sales returned to pre-pandemic financial 2019 levels from the middle of that month, On The Beach said.
Pretax loss narrowed to £7.0 million from £21.6 million.
On The Beach declared no interim dividend, unchanged from the past two years. It had paid a 1.3 pence dividend for the first half of financial 2019.
The company, which specialises in beach holidays, reported that its strategy of targeting the premium end of its market has reaped rewards, as this recovered more quickly than the value end of the market.
Trading since the start of April has been strong, with sales 33% ahead of pre-Covid levels. The firm expects to ‘trade profitably’ in the second half.
However, Chief Executive Officer Simon Cooper sounded a note of caution about the consumer environment.
‘Whilst we have entered the second half with resilient sales, visibility of the near term outlook for the UK outbound travel industry remains limited,’ he said. ‘Customers are typically booking holidays with shorter lead times and we believe we are yet to see the full impact of the escalating costs of living on bookings.’
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