The group reported a 19% fall in headline pre-tax profit to £32.4m in the year ended 30 September 2008.
Statutory pre-tax profit after amortisation, restructuring costs and impairment of goodwill came to £23.4m versus £37.5m.
Group revenues increased by 27.2% to £455.1m, but operating costs were 32.4% higher at £419.1m, resulting in a full year operating profit of £36m, down 12.8%.
Annual dividend per share was slashed to 16.05p from 32.10p.
The group’s Education division reported revenues of £109.5m, versus £26.1m in 2007, although the latter included just three months trading following the unit’s establishment with the acquisition of PGL.
The division, which now also includes European Study Tours and NST, recorded headline operating profit of £10.9m (2007: £8.5m). For 2008/09, it is 78% booked and showing sales growth of 8%.
Revenues in the Hotel Breaks division (Superbreak, Theatrebreak, The Luxury Hotel Collection and West End Theatre Bookings) rose by 7.8% to £149.9m, although headline operating profit slipped 8.8% to £15.5m.
Holidaybreak said sales ‘slowed markedly’ after May 2008 at Superbreak and, for 2008/09, the division is currently down about 15%, reflecting weaker demand for London in particular and for short breaks generally.
Headline operating profit at the Adventure Travel division (Explore, Regaldive, Djoser, carpe diem Sprachreisen and TravelWorks) fell by 27.3% on revenues up 5.1% at £94.6m. Margins were adversely affected by geopolitical events and fuel cost increases. For 2008/09 the division is 40% booked and showing 1% sales growth.
Finally, the Camping division achieved revenues of £101.1m (2007: £102.8m) on 5% lower capacity. Headline operating profit improved by 17.9% to £13.8m, its highest ‘for several years’. Bookings for 2008/09 are in line with the group’s expectations with approximately 34% of sales booked.
Michel said: ‘The group’s overall trading performance for the year was disappointing against our initial expectations for the year with an unsettled and unpredictable final quarter marking the start of the recession.’
However, he added: ‘Although the economic environment will remain difficult, the spread and diversity of our businesses gives the group exposure to other European markets that will be differently affected by the uncertainty ahead providing us with additional resilience.
‘The group remains focused on delivering value for our customers and we believe that our businesses will perform satisfactorily in a recession.
‘We are taking a number of steps and initiatives, including cutting costs, managing cash and reducing discretionary capital investment, to manage the business effectively in these challenging times.’
Click here to see the results in full (464KB pdf).
And see also:
Holidaybreak’s Regaldive takes £300k XL hit (29/09/08)
Education drives Holidaybreak growth (23/07/08)
Holidaybreak expands Education division (24/06/08)
£100m deal launches Holidaybreak's 'education' unit (18/05/07)