p14 CIty Jan29 27/1/10 21:37 Page 14
City & finance
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Youtravel: first
All Leisure profit
profit recorded
YOUTRAVEL.COM made a “small plummets by 67%
profit” in its third year of opera-
tion, which finished at the end of
Chris Gray.
Allard said was due to a full
October last year. ALL LEISURE GROUP expects year of cruising from Swan
It is the first move into profit to be debt free by May this year Hellenic and the contribution
for the company, which broke despite a 67% plunge in pre-tax of Hebridean Princess, which
even in its second year after a profits. the group acquired as part of
£900,000 loss in its first year, The group, which includes Hebridean Island Cruises in
which was mainly associated Voyages of Discovery, Swan Hel- April last year.
with start up costs. lenic and Discover Egypt, this Hebridean Island Cruises
Sales and marketing director Paul Riches week reported pre-tax profits of made a £2.2m loss in the pe-
(pictured) said the firm was aiming to follow up £2.7m for the 12 months to the riod since it was bought, but
the move into profit with a 10% expansion of end of October, down from £9m All Leisure expects it to be
revenue and a targeted £120m turnover this year. the year before. profitable in 2010.
Revenue for the first quarter of the current But it said it continued to have healthy cash Allard said the group would continue its
financial year is expected to rise by 77% reserves and expected to pay off its last remain- strategy of exploiting increasing demand for
compared with the same period the year before. ing loan related to the purchase of the Discovery destination-led cruise holidays and providing a
Forward bookings for the first 20 days of in 2005 – leaving it debt free. The group paid off choice of other niche holidays for the over-55s.
January were up 15% compared with 2009. £1.8m of the loan to purchase Discovery (below) He said there had been “significant” levels of
Riches said bookings from November until January last year. repeat business in the past year, and onboard
were 50% up on the same period last year. Chairman Roger Allard (above) said the surveys showed nine out of 10 of last year’s
“Last year we broke even in a difficult market, results showed the group had, like most opera- passengers intended to sail with the group again.
and then we went on to deliver profit. This year tors, been affected by the recession, movements Allard added that the group’s latest ship
has started well and we are well positioned for in currency and fuel costs. acquisition, the Alexander von Humboldt,
the year ahead,” he said. But he said the results were ahead of City would be chartered to German cruise company
Turkey saw the biggest increase so far in expectations. Pre-tax profits before adjustments Phoenix Reisen in May, after technical work over
January as it was up 108%, but countries within to its financial derivatives fell less steeply, by the winter.
the eurozone also did well with the Canaries up 28% to £4.5m.
107% and mainland Spain up 94%. Turnover during the year rose by 9%, which ■ Celebrity to embark on $200m refurb, p18
He said booking patterns suggested customers
and agents were now using Youtravel and other
dynamic packaging sites for advance bookings as
Results: All Leisure Group
well as late departures.
Year ending Oct 09 Oct 08
Riches reassured agents Youtravel would not Turnover £73.6m £67.5m
be affected by its association with E-Clear, which Operating profit £2.6m £7.6m
it previously used as its credit card payment
Pre-tax profit £2.7m £9m
processing company.
Cash balance £31.2m £33m
E-Clear owes Youtravel about £150,000 which
Riches said was small in relation to Youtravel’s
turnover and would have no impact on its 2010
performance.
E-Clear was used only for payments from
consumers, and did not affect agent payments.
It switched to Barclays for its credit card
payments this month.
Youtravel has also made two new appoint-
ments at its Athens head office. Harris Stavri-
noudakis has been made financial director and
Panayiotis Avgoustis head of IT.
14 29.01.2010
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