Airline and package holiday firm Dart Group helped over 4m Britons, most from the north of England, escape abroad last year. It sold over 200,000 package holidays, too, and, given the terrible summer we’re having, aims to fly an extra 400,000 passengers this year and sell twice as many holidays looks increasingly realistic.
Still, these are among the worst trading conditions in decades and it will not be easy. Slow sales of winter getaways means Dart does 80 per cent of its leisure travel business between April and October. Thankfully, those seven months were busy and passenger numbers grew 27 per cent over the year, driving turnover at its Jet2.com budget airline up 18 per cent to £416m; higher baggage charges and insurance easily offsetting cheaper fares. That said, the impact of higher fuel costs hit margins there, knocking pre-tax profit by 10 per cent to £21.7m. Still, the Jet2holidays business made £2.5m as Brits rushed to book “all inclusive” trips which now account for two-thirds of all packages sold. It lost money last year, but selling extra leg-room and more in-flight meals sent revenue up 140 per cent to £115m. Logistics business Fowler Welch made decent money, too, turning in profits of £4.3m - although analysts had wanted more.
Broker Peel Hunt expects current year adjusted pre-tax profit of £28.5m and EPS of 14.3p (£28.1m and 15.48p in 2012).
DART GROUP (DTG) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 69p | MARKET VALUE: | £98.7m | |
| TOUCH: | 69-69.5p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 95p | LOW: 57p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.9% | PE RATIO: | 4 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 111p | NET CASH: | £143m | |
| Year to 31 Mar | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 429 | 11.8 | 6.2 | 0.65 |
| 2009 | 439 | 33.5 | 19.3 | 0.71 |
| 2010 | 435 | 22.2 | 11.1 | 1.11 |
| 2011 | 543 | 26.2 | 12.2 | 1.23 |
| 2012 | 683 | 28.1 | 16.0 | 1.32 |
| % change | +26 | +7 | +31 | +7 |
Ex-div:12 Sep Payment:19 Oct | ||||
