MyTravel achieves reduction in pre-tax losses, maintains positive outlook |
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Thu, 15 Dec 2005 20:05
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LONDON - Holiday operator MyTravel Group PLC has managed to control the losses and had reduced them to £18.3 million in the year ending October as compared to the £153.4 million registered in the last year.
The company, which was previously called as Airtours, has managed to greatly improve its position on the market after it almost went under last December, when a debt-for-equity swap saved it, but left its shareholders in a vulnerable position.
The company was seriously hit by the drastic reduction in travel post 9/11, the SARS epidemic as well as an accounting scandal that resulted in the firing or several top executives. Considering that the fuel situation has not been exactly rosy, MyTravel appears to have done well for itself. Lately, MyTravel has been focusing on margin improvement rather than boosting holiday sales and this strategy appears to have paid rich dividends.
The company said that the fuel prices did cost it £47.3 million, but it had still managed to reduce its losses. MyTravel chief executive Peter McHugh said that the company had recorded a £42.3 million increase in operating profit to £55.2 million, "Without the impact of fuel, we would have been a year ahead of our turnaround targets. As it is, we achieved another record profit in Northern Europe. In North America, despite a number of problems encountered over the summer, our performance was good. In the UK, we made excellent progress year on year despite the high fuel prices," he pointed out.
Mr. McHugh said that the year has been good for the company adding that the outlook for the next year remained positive. “We continue to target an operating profit in all divisions for the current financial year and a margin of 3.5 per cent in the UK in 2007." MyTravel shares increased by 12 pence to 205 pence during early hours of trading.
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