On the Beach rubbishes fears of consumer slowdown as forward bookings hit record
On the Beach plans to bring back its dividend in 2024 as booming demand for travel helped the company report record full-year revenue and bookings.
The total transaction value, which records holiday bookings pre-cancellation, came in at just under £1.1bn, while revenues rose 18.7 per cent year-on-year to £26.8m, following an “especially pleasing” summer.
On the Beach said forward bookings were also at record levels, rubbishing fears of a slowdown in demand coming into the winter months. Shares flew more than 14 per cent in early morning trading.
The Manchester-based travel agent has cashed in on resurgent post-Covid demand for travel this year.
Shares soared over 14 per cent in September after the holiday firm revealed record bookings over the key summer period.
Shaun Morton, Chief Executive Officer of On the Beach Group plc, said the performance had been “incredibly strong… delivering record TTV and exceeding the £1bn 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 ’24 will be significantly ahead of Summer ’23.”
Full-year winter bookings, a key focus of analysts ahead of the results, were 34 per cent higher year-on-year, indicating demand is unlikely to tail off anytime soon. However, investors will have to wait until Christmas to get a clear picture of bookings for summer 2024. Consumers do not tend to book for the summer season until the turn of the year.
In December 2022, On The Beach chief Simon Cooper, who founded the business in 2004, stepped down and was replaced by the then CFO Shaun Morton