Tui Travel has said its summer bookings were in line with expectations, but this has not helped its share price to take flight.
The company, which owns the Thomson and First Choice brands, said average summer holiday prices were up by around 2%, with more bookings made online. It said most of its winter season programmes were almost fully sold, despite the impact of global events such as the turbulent political situation in Egypt and weakness in the Nordic market.
It said its first half result was expected to be in line with last year, and it was on track for 7% to 10% growth in underlying full year profits.
But its shares have dipped 0.5p to 439.4p, and analysts at Numis said:
The second quarter pre-close is positive, but there is no change to guidance, with Tui continuing to expect to deliver "7 to 10% of underlying operating profit growth for 2014 on a constant currency basis." Further weakness in the Nordics, and continued unrest in Egypt, has been offset by strength in other regions. First half results are guided to be broadly in line with last year, excluding the timing of Easter which falls in the second half this year but was in the first six months last year (around £25m profit effect). We are holding our forecasts.
