Thomas Cook still a cheap ticket

That's certainly how the numbers have been interpreted in the City. Broker Credit Suisse expects adjusted pre-tax profit of £206m in 2014, doubling adjusted EPS from 4.9p to 10.8p. It has increased forecasts for 2015 by 6 per cent to 16.2p and by 12 per cent to 17.9p the year after. That's because Cook has found an extra £40m of savings and now targets £440m of cuts by 2015. And, incredibly, a further £440m of cuts have been pencilled in by 2018, too. If Cook gets it right, the shares could be worth up to 272p, says Credit Suisse.

And there's no reason to doubt it. Cook saved £194m this year, easily beating the previously upgraded target of £170m. It now thinks the total should hit £340m in 2014, leaving the final £100m for the following year. Implementing a second wave of more structural savings will inevitably cost more, but even that target looks achievable given little business integration has taken place in the UK since the merger with MyTravel in 2007. Cook will flesh out the details at May's half-year results.

But it's not just about self-help. Cook is raising prices and margins on UK winter bookings are up. Capacity earmarked for Egypt has been redirected elsewhere and new higher-margin products, such as upmarket 'concept' hotels, are now expected to chip in over £700m of revenue in 2015; £200m more than first thought. It could be £1.2bn two years later. Internet bookings are closer to its 50 per cent target for 2015, too.