Over-50s specialist Saga has 600 per cent increase in underlying profit in Covid revival
The post-pandemic boom in travel and cruising helped over-50s specialists Saga post a 600 per cent increase in underlying profit for the first half of the year.
Saga announced almost £260m in revenue up until July 2022, a 65 per cent increase on the previous year, while its £14m underlying profit brought it back in the black, after a £2.8m loss in 2021.
The company also cut its net debt by three per cent, as it delivered the return of a number of services, including Ocean Cruise, River Cruise and a series of new products.
Saga did however say the insurance market for over-50s ‘continues to be challenging following implementation of regulatory changes”, yet the total policies across all products grew three per cent.
Despite the revamp of its digital business, it said sales of new travel insurance policies returned to pre-pandemic levels, but new motor and home policies were down.
The company was able to “resume more normal cruise and travel operations” this year according to Euan Sutherland, Saga’s chief executive.
He said post-pandemic, “our Ocean Cruise business secured strong bookings and is on track to achieve our targets for this year and next, while we also made the final preparations for our new digital Saga Travel business which has just launched the first of our new products.”
Looking ahead, he said “we are mindful that the external environment remains challenging, we are confident that Saga is now in a stronger position than it was before the pandemic”.