p16 City mar6 4/3/09 12:59 Page 16
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Travelzest profits
soar 19% in 2008
All Leisure reveals
Rupert Murray.
always going to be strong performers to offset
war chest of £33m
TRAVELZEST posted a pre-tax profit of £3.8m for sectors that are suffering.”
the year ending October 2008, thanks predomi- Mottershead said that with businesses in
nantly to its Canadian business itravel2000. Canada and the UK, Travelzest had two domestic
CRUISE operator All Leisure Group has a £33m The online retailer and operator’s profits were markets that allowed it to make a year-round
war chest to grow by snapping up bargains in 19% up on the previous 12 months, with revenue profit without worrying about slow periods.
the downturn. rising from £38.5m to £44.3m. The company’s other Canadian business,
Reporting full-year figures for the 12 months Chief executive Chris Mottershead said The Cruise Professionals, which it bought
to October 31, the operator said it was 66% sold he was delighted with the results and last June, is down year-on-year but Motter-
for this season, just two percentage points down revealed that the company was already shead said it was performing better than
on this time last year. in profit in 2009. much of the rest of the cruise market.
All Leisure, which owns the Swan Hellenic and “Our British businesses, which He described the economic situation
Voyages of Discovery brands, said pre-tax profits are predominantly small and as “unprecedented” but was cautiously
of £6.28m were in line with expectations. specialist, turned profits in the optimistic about the rest of the year.
But for this year it predicted a squeeze on hundreds of thousands, whereas “We will continue to review our
margins would lead to profits dropping to £4m. itravel2000’s profit was in the strategy to ensure it continues to
Leisure industry City analyst Mark Brumby millions – 21% ahead of projec- be appropriate, given the global
said although the current trading environment tions,” he said. financial turmoil through which
was tough, acquisition targets may materialise. “Certain areas are not doing all businesses must navigate in
The operator said bookings had increased as well as others. Our France the coming year,” he said.
since the turn of the year, but reported a trend specialist is struggling because of Mottershead confirmed
towards later bookings, in line with the rest of the eurozone effect, whereas our that there were no plans to
the market. Turkey business is flying. Chris Mottershead: “Our strong make any acquisitions in the
Brumby said: “All Leisure Group is trading “Our diversity means there are performers offset weaker sectors” coming year.
relatively well in a challenging market. Booking
levels are not running materially behind last
year’s level, but the trend towards later booking
across the industry looks to be well established. Royal Caribbean seeks financing
“This may lead to an increase in marketing
activity, and margins could be hit. Although the ROYAL Caribbean Cruise Line is looking for more multibillion-dollar capital investment pro-
current market presents significant challenges, “committed financing” for its project to build the gramme running until 2012.
it also presents opportunities for expansion.” world’s two largest ships. In its report, Royal Caribbean said that al-
The line admitted in its annual report that it though it was confident of securing the required
was working with export credit agencies and financing for Oasis, it admitted there could be
German airline merger: Germany’s second- other financial institutions to obtain “committed “no assurance that we will be able to do so or
biggest airline, Air Berlin, and TUIfly are at an financing for Oasis of the Seas”. that we will do so on acceptable terms”.
advanced stage of merger talks. A deal could When the 5,000-passenger ship is launched The export credit agency in Finland, where the
be completed in the next two weeks. Tui Travel later this year, it will be the biggest cruise ship ship is being built, has agreed guarantees for
is known to be looking at options after merger afloat, dwarfing the existing largest vessel, also 80% of the project.
talks broke down last year with Thomas in the Royal Caribbean fleet, by 40%. The Solstice new-build programme has similar
Cook’s Condor and Lufthansa’s Germanwings. The line has six ships still on order, assurances in Germany for 95% of the project.
Delays caused by talks with trade unions including four Solstice-class luxury vessels for Royal Caribbean and its rival Carnival Corpora-
have prompted Tui bosses to consider selling Celebrity Cruises, representing an investment of tion have frozen dividends as they look to limit
the airline, rather than just cutting capacity. $6.4bn. their reliance on the credit markets to finance
The line has paid $540m so far and has a their new-build programmes.
16 06.03.2009
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