However, the group said that, as 39% of its target revenue is yet to be booked, it expects to perform in line with management expectations for the year ending 30 September 2010.
Holidaybreak operates four divisions: Education (PGL, NST and European Study Tours); Hotel Breaks (Superbreak, Bookit and West End Theatre Bookings); Adventure Travel (Explore, Djoser, Regaldive, carpe diem and TravelWorks); and Camping (Eurocamp, Keycamp and Ecamp).
Education accounted for about 26% of the group’s 2009 revenue; Hotel Breaks 30%; Adventure Travel 20% and Camping 24%.
The Education division saw sales fall 1% year-on-year in the latest reporting period. Holidaybreak said it had not detected ‘any material signs that the division is being affected by the recession’, although school closures due to January’s bad weather had delayed bookings.
Overall, the division has already achieved 88% of target bookings for 2010 and 19% for 2011. Its PGL outdoor education centres are 96% booked for 2009/10, with revenue growth at approximately 7%.
Sales in the Hotel Breaks division are currently 2% below last year, with the adverse weather in January impacting performance, particularly Superbreak’s sales through retail travel agents.
Sales for UK short breaks are in line with last year, benefiting from popular shows such as The Lion King and We Will Rock You. However, demand for European destinations from the UK remains soft, while the unit’s Dutch business is seeing a combination of flat volumes and lower hotel rates for its domestic product.
Elsewhere, sales in the Adventure Travel division are currently down 2% year-on-year. However, the division has seen stronger demand recently, with sales in the last four weeks up 6%.
Finally, Camping sales declined 3% year-on-year during the reporting period, on 7% lower capacity for the 2010 season. About 60% of target sales are now booked, compared with 64% this time last year, ‘reflecting the later booking market that we expected’.
The division’s sales from the UK, Germany and Ireland are in line with expectations, while trading in the Netherlands has been slower than anticipated but shown signs of improvement in recent weeks.
Commenting on the figures John Coleman, executive chairman, said: ‘The group continues to demonstrate resilience in the current challenging economic conditions.
‘Sales for the year to date are down 2% on the equivalent period in the previous year, reflecting capacity reduction in Camping and a later booking pattern generally.
‘Whilst trading in each of the group’s divisions is encouraging, we expect the trading conditions over the coming year to remain challenging as a result of continuing economic uncertainty.’
Holidaybreak added that the search for a new group chief executive continues, following the departure of Carl Michel last September.
The company will announce its interim results for the six months ending 31 March 2010 on 13 May 2010.
See also:
Profits drop at Holidaybreak [FY08/09] (27/11/2009)
Superbreak names new MD (27/10/2009)
Late bookings boost Holidaybreak (23/09/2009)
Holidaybreak spends £9.44m on new PGL site (10/08/2009)
Holidaybreak seeks replacement for Carl Michel (29/07/2009)