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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Business
Shelina Begum

On the Beach delivers rise in revenues despite Brexit worries

Manchester-headquartered AIM listed travel experts On the Beach Group booked a rise in first-half profit despite Brexit uncertainties.

The group, which said it remained cautious until Brexit was delivered, reported a 41 per cent jump in revenues to £63.5m for the six months through March.

Pre-tax profits was up 14 per cent to £15.7m.

The company declared an interim dividend of 1.3p per share, up 18 per cent on previous year.

CEO Simon Cooper said: “On the Beach has delivered a solid performance in H1, despite continuing uncertainties around Brexit, with modest booking and revenue growth supported by the ongoing benefits of improved marketing efficiency which resulted in a growth in adjusted PBT of 14 per cent.

“This performance has been delivered against a soft background market, particularly in the important first calendar quarter, when uncertainties regarding Brexit impacted consumer appetite for booking holidays.

"Independent market data shows that a significant proportion of consumers deferred their holiday purchase in the run up to the 29 March deadline and our understanding is that the background market has been trading down 10 per cent YoY in 2019.

“There were a number of exciting operational developments in the first half including the launch of Classic Package Holidays, providing a platform for travel agencies to book mainstream beach holidays; the integration of both Emirates and British Airways onto our platform to expand our long haul offering; and we completed our move to the Group’s new Digital HQ in Manchester together with the expansion of our Operational HQ in Cheadle."

He added: “Looking forward, we continue to remain cautious of the consumer environment until a Brexit resolution is found, but the resilient and flexible nature of our business model allows us to focus on profitable growth and gives us confidence in the Group’s outlook.

"We will continue to evaluate opportunities to enhance our market share position.”

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