On the Beach Group PLC AGM Trading Update (2370E)

TIDMOTB

RNS Number : 2370E

On the Beach Group PLC

08 February 2018

8 February 2018

On the Beach Group plc

("On the Beach" or the "Group")

AGM Trading Update

On the Beach Group plc (LSE: OTB.L), the UK's leading online retailer for beach holidays, today issues the following trading update for the four months to 31 January 2018, in advance of its Annual General Meeting to be held today.

The Group has continued to perform well in the first four months of the financial year. The reduction in overall capacity in the market following the Monarch failure led to significant year on year ("YOY") seat price increases for winter departures. Although other carriers have added incremental capacity, this is primarily for departures from Easter 2018 onwards with the effect that summer 2018 seat prices have remained broadly flat YOY. These pricing factors, together with a return of customer demand for destinations in the Eastern Mediterranean, are helping to drive strong bookings growth for summer 2018 departures and is more than offsetting any weakness in the market for late winter departures.

Since the start of the new calendar year the Group has continued to drive efficient share growth with UK revenue growth, after all marketing costs, for the four months to 31 January 2018 of +23%. This performance reflects the continued strength of the core business combined with substantial growth of revenues from Sunshine.co.uk. This has been achieved notwithstanding the reinvestment of a significant proportion of the incremental Sunshine.co.uk revenues into marketing activity.

The international sites in Sweden and Norway have continued to show strong growth YOY and the Group will shortly launch its international proposition, www.ebeach, into its third market, Denmark.

The Group continues to increase its investment in talent and technology while building its exclusive supply position and growing awareness across all brands. The Board believes the full benefits of these investments and the incremental marketing investment in the Sunshine.co.uk brand will continue to flow through in the remainder of this financial year.

The Group will report Interim Results for the six months to 31 March 2018 on 10 May 2018.

Simon Cooper, Chief Executive of On the Beach Group plc, commented:

"The first four months of the new financial year has delivered another solid period of growth for the On the Beach, Sunshine and ebeach brands. Our strategy of investing in our brands, talent and technology to drive growth has delivered performance in line with the Board's expectations, with consumers attracted to our wide range of value for money beach holidays. Our third nationwide television advertising campaign started on Christmas Day and has helped drive this strong performance as our brand awareness continues to grow. The Board remains confident in the Group's outlook and will continue to evaluate opportunities to enhance its market share position."

For further information:

 
 On the Beach Group plc           c/o FTI Consulting 
  Simon Cooper, Chief Executive 
  Officer 
  Paul Meehan, Chief Financial 
  Officer 
 FTI Consulting                   Tel: [phone] 
  Jonathon Brill                   1000 
  Alex Beagley 
  Fiona Walker 
 

About On the Beach

With over 20% share of online sales in the short haul beach holiday market, we are one of the UK's largest online beach holiday retailers. We have significant opportunities for growth and a long-term mission to become Europe's leading online retailer of beach holidays. By using our innovative technology, low-cost base and strong customer-value proposition to provide a structural challenge to legacy tour operators and travel agents, we continue our journey to disrupt the online retail of beach holidays. Our model is customer-centric, asset light, profitable and cash generative.

www.onthebeachgroupplc.com

Cautionary statement

This announcement may contain certain forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results, operations and businesses of the Company. Forward looking statements are sometimes, but not always, identified by their use of a date in the future or such words as 'anticipates', 'aims', 'due', 'will', 'could', 'may', 'should', 'expects', 'believes', 'intends', 'plans', 'targets', 'goal' or 'estimates'. These forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements, including factors outside the Company's control. The forward-looking statements reflect the knowledge and information available at the date of preparation of this announcement Report and will not be updated during the year. Nothing in this announcement should be construed as a profit forecast

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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February 08, 2018 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)