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Saga PLC on Tuesday reported a rise in its annual revenue as travel rebounded after Covid restrictions were eased, but suffered a widened loss due to an impairment charge. Shares were down 9.3% at 124.44 pence each on Tuesday morning in London. The Kent, England-based over-50s travel operator said revenue in the financial year that ended January 31 grew by 54% to £581.1 million from £377.2 million the year before, due to increased trading in the Cruise and Travel businesses. In its Travel business, revenue was £108.4 million, up significantly from £10.5 million the year before, while revenue in Ocean Cruise climbed to £168.3 million from £82.5 million. It swung to an underlying pretax profit of £21.5 million, from a loss of £6.7 million, primarily due to a £69.4 million reduction in Cruise and Travel losses, of which £47.0 million relates to the Ocean Cruise business. However, statutory pretax loss widened to £254.2 million from £23.5 million the year before, reflecting an impairment of insurance goodwill of £269.0 million. Chief Executive Officer Euan Sutherland said: ‘Over the past year, through what continued to be a particularly challenging external backdrop, Saga made progress against its strategy while achieving significant revenue growth and returning to underlying profit. Our Ocean Cruise business continued to see strong customer demand and bookings for 2023/24 are on track to meet our targets. In Travel, bookings are significantly ahead of the same point last year and that business will return to profit this year.’ Net debt at period end amounted to £711.7 million, down from £729.0 million the year before. Saga declared no dividend for the financial year, unchanged year-on-year. Looking ahead, the company said the progress made in the last year puts it in ‘good stead’ as it enters financial 2023. It added that it remains focused on reducing its debt through the continued repayment of its ocean cruise ship debt and the £150 million bond on maturity in May 2024. Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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