TRAVEL GIANT Tui pared losses in the last six months and says bookings are booming as German and UK holiday makers seek summer sun.
The Anglo-German business flew into trouble during Covid, like most of the industry. It took loans of e4 billion and was bailed out several times by the German government, money it has been seeking to pay back.
Today it said debts sit at e5.3 billion (£4.7 billion), up from e5.1 billion a year ago.
The better news is that sales are up by e1.4 billion to e3.8 billion (£3.4 billion) in the half year to December. The company still made a loss of e153 million, but that’s half as bad as last time. The travel sector normally makes losses in winter and the bulk of profits in the summer.
Sales are presently above pre-pandemic levels as consumers try to catch up on missed holidays. There have been record online booking days lately in both the UK and Germany.
Tui has recently lost its crown as the number one travel player in the UK to Jet2.
Sebastian Ebel took over as CEO last October, replacing Friedrich Joussen. He was previously CFO.
Emma-Lou Montgomery at Fidelity said: “Past summer disruption still hangs like a cloud over this year’s forecasts, but a world of opportunity is also quietly threatened by disruption on a global scale. Because, while the worst of the pandemic disruption may be over, global geopolitical issues are not. But worse still could be the impact of consumer belt-tightening, if the cost of living crisis casts the largest cloud and limits holidaymakers’ purchasing power.”
Richard Hunter at interactive investor, said: “TUI has not yet reached its preferred destination of profitability, but the damage wrought by the pandemic is being slowly undone.”
Deutsche Bank today upgraded its recommendation on Easyjet shares, a TUI rival, from Sell to Buy.
