Member Article

Thomas Cook suffers major profit loss

Holiday bookers Thomas Cook revealed an underlying profit drop of nearly 50% from operations, down to £156m in their full year results.

The struggling firm said it incurred a profit loss of £485.3m, which is £87.1m more than the loss in 2011.

Thomas Cook said its financial difficulties were a result of reduced capacity and higher fuel cost, while like-for-like revenue fell to £9.5bn from £9.8bn after the holiday company took capacity management decisions in the UK and West Europe.

Shares were down by 3.3% on Wednesday morning when the results were released, while the basic loss per share was 3.7 pence per share.

Harriet Green, Group Chief Executive, Thomas Cook Group plc said: “In 2012 over 23 million customers enjoyed their holidays with us, 50% of whom went on an independent or flexible holiday.

“Through building on our core product strengths to further improve our proposition with new and different products, we have a significant opportunity to unlock the full potential of our brands and attract more customers.

“As we develop our Business Transformation plans we will continue to place our customers and employees at the very centre of our business.

“Through leveraging existing best practice and by focusing on efficiency, harnessing the power of technology and delivering on our commitments we are addressing the most immediate challenges facing the Group and creating a platform for future growth.

“These results reflect the major issues that Thomas Cook faced last year, but they mask the material improvement that we made in the fourth quarter.

“Our brand has demonstrated its strength by recovering all the ground lost during last year’s difficulties and we have identified significant further efficiency improvements.

“The year ahead is the initial stage in this recovery and as we embark upon our first year of Business Transformation, we are optimistic about the future and look forward to updating you on our full plans and additional financial benefits in the spring of 2013.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .