LONDON (Alliance News) - Thomas Cook Group PLC on Thursday reported a marginally wider pretax loss in the first quarter of its financial year, as revenue slipped amid decreased customer demand following the terrorist attacks in Tunisia, Egypt, France and Turkey, although the travel operator said it is seeing signs of recovery.
Thomas Cook said its pretax loss in the seasonally light three months ended December 31 widened slightly to GBP116 million from GBP115 million the year before, as revenue slipped to GBP1.40 billion from GBP1.52 billion, although revenue rose by 1% on a like-for-like basis.
Thomas Cook said it received robust customer demand in the UK and Northern Europe while it suffered tough trading conditions in Continental Europe and for its Airlines Germany business.
Growth in like-for-like revenue was boosted by sales of holidays to Spain, long-haul destinations and new seat-only routes, offsetting the impact of the closure of holidays to Tunisia and Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt and of reduced sales to Turkey.
Winter trading is in line with expectations, with 82% of the programme sold so far, broadly the same as this time last year but with significantly higher pricing, Thomas Cook said.
Meanwhile, 29% of the summer programme is sold so far, which is 2% less than last year.
Still, Thomas Cook said it has seen "clear signs of recovery" after the terrorist attacks in Paris and Istanbul. In light of the terrorist attacks and in anticipation of changes in customer demand, the travel operator said it has rebalanced its programme to include more holidays to the Western Mediterranean.
"Thomas Cook is now a significantly stronger and more resilient business, and we are well positioned in a challenging market. We are maintaining our previous guidance for the 2016 financial year, provided that the recent recovery we have seen in customer confidence is sustained," Chief Executive Peter Fankhauser said in a statement.
By Karolina Kaminska; karolinakaminska@alliancenews.com @KarolinaAllNews
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