The outlook for the summer season is looking sunny for Thomas Cook (TCG), with bookings up by 12 per cent compared with the same time last year, and 61 per cent sold overall. Management called Greece the "standout destination" of the season - so things have come a long way since the problems of two years ago. Cyprus and Bulgaria were also popular destinations, while Egypt has experienced a significant increase in bookings after it suffered due to the previous year from terrorism-related worries. Long-haul holidays also did well, with bookings up 5 per cent over the winter and 9 per cent for the summer.
Ignoring a £10m hit from a late Easter, and foreign-exchange movements, the holiday provider reported an underlying loss before interest and taxes of £177m during its first half, although this is an improvement (£2m) on the same time last year.
Underlying losses at German airline Condor widened by £19m to £41m. But it is expected to return to profit by the full year, and it is on its way with summer bookings up 18 per cent year on year, even though the average selling price decreased by 4 per cent.
Analysts at Stifel expect pre-tax profit of £195m for the full year to September 2017, giving an EPS of 10.2 p, compared with £168m and £8.5p in FY2016.
| THOMAS COOK (TCG) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 91p | MARKET VALUE: | £1.4bn | |
| TOUCH: | 91-91.5p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 97p | LOW: 52.6p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 0.5% | PE RATIO: | 131 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 9p* | NET DEBT: | £794m | |
| Half-year to 31 Mar | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 2.67 | -284 | -17.3 | nil |
| 2017 | 2.99 | -314 | -17.4 | nil |
| % change | +12 | - | - | - |
Ex-div: na Payment: na *Includes intangible assets of £3.1bn, or 200p a share | ||||
