On the Beach FY PBT beats expectations

(Sharecast News) - Holidays retailer On the Beach posted pre-tax profits that came in considerably higher than expectations on Tuesday and also said it was in possession of a record forward order book. On the Beach said adjusted pre-tax profits came in at £23.6m for the twelve months ended 30 September, well ahead of estimates for PBT of roughly £20.0m, while total transaction value surged 26% to hit £1.0bn for the first time in the company's history.

Revenues rose 19% to £170.2m amid a "strong demand" for holidays across its core addressable market and strategic expansion areas, with growth across both passenger numbers and average booking values. Earnings per share were up from 6.4p a year ago at 11.6p.

The AIM-listed firm said momentum going into the new financial year had also resulted in total transaction value being 26% higher for the first nine weeks of the financial year, while winter bookings were 34% higher year-on-year.

Chief executive Shaun Morton said: "I am pleased with the group's incredibly strong performance this year, delivering record TTV and exceeding the £1.0bn revenue milestone for the first time - a huge achievement testament to the hard work across all our teams in the business.

"We approach our key booking period in Q2 with significant momentum and this gives us confidence that Summer 2024 will be significantly ahead of Summer 2023."

As of 1030 GMT, On the Beach shares had shot up 14.14% to 134.0p.







Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com