Thomas Cook losses widen
Debt-laden British tour operator Thomas Cook posted a steep first-half loss but said its turnaround plans were making good progress and that bookings had picked up in recent months.
Thomas Cook, which secured a £1.4bn rescue package from its lenders earlier this month, on Thursday reported a pretax loss of 328.3 million pounds for the six months to the end of March, some 40 percent wider than the 233 million pounds loss it made in the same period a year ago.
The 171-year-old travel group endured a dire 2011 with a slump in sales culminating in the departure of veteran chief executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa in August and a funding crunch requiring the company to ask its banks for new financing.
Thomas Cook has been hit hard by tough trading conditions, especially in Britain where its core customer base of families with young children has been particularly affected by the economic downturn. It has also been hit by social and political unrest in popular destinations such as Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco.
“We continue to expect this year to be challenging given the economic backdrop, difficult trading environment with particularly poor performances in our North American and French businesses,” the company said in a statement.
“Whilst our booking position for the second half has improved trading will be dependent on how well the group performs during the important lates market.”
The world’s oldest travel group said UK summer bookings were only slightly down on last year and that its German business was performing well.
Thomas Cook has made a series of disposals in recent months to reduce its 890 million pounds debt. Earlier this week Thomas Cook shareholders overwhelmingly backed the disposal of five Spanish hotels and the sale and leaseback of part of its aircraft fleet.
It also sold its Indian business to Canada’s Fairfax Financial for around $150m this month.
The company said the sales would help it to “re-energise the business and begin to rebuild profitability, reduce debt”.