Holidaybreak records ‘solid performance’ with £32m profit – UPDATED

Holidaybreak produced a pre-tax profit of £32.1 million in the year to September, up from £29.9 million in the previous 12 months.

The parent company of brands such as Superbreak, Explore, Eurocamp and Keycamp, sold 3.2 million holidays in the period, up by 100,000, in what it described as a “solid performance”.

Hotel breaks remains the company’s largest division, selling 2.5 million holidays, up from 2.4 million the previous year. Operating profit was down 3% at £16.2 million on a 3% reduction in revenue.

The adventure travel division sold 66.400 holidays, up from 60,300, with an operating profit up by 47% to £5.6 million.

The number of camping holidays sold dropped from 523,000 to 515,000 resulting in a 3% fall in operating profit to £13.1 million on revenue down by 7% at £105.5 million – this followed a 16% capacity cut.

The proportion of bookings taken online – exlcuding those from travel agents –  rose from 64.3% to 68% in the year.

The company described current trading as being in line with expectations, with hotel breaks up 8%, adventure travel up 5% and camping down 6%. 

A statement said: “The diversity of Holidaybreak’s businesses and their flexible cost structures helped deliver an excellent performance overall. There was no material impact on group financial performance by the war in Lebanon or other events, such as the World Cup.”

Chief executive Carl Michel said: “These results represent another robust performance in what has been yet another eventful year in our markets. We are market leaders with industry-leading margins and continue to search out acquisitions that meet our criteria and will add to the group.”

He added that there were a number of “attractive acquisition opportunities”, mostly but not exclusively in the wider European market, which can provide the group with new platforms for growth.

The group is to spend £9.5 million replacing older mobile homes in its camping division next year. Capacity in the camping sector is to be further reduced by three per cent next year after the division was withdrawn from sale in June.

“2007 will be a year of investment in our existing businesses. Organic growth initiatives include the extension of product ranges in the Adventure Travel Division and investing in the online capability of all our businesses,” Holidaybreak said.

Superbreak’s range of Euroepan hotels is to be “broadened significantly” for next year. 

Report by Phil Davies