On The Beach plunges as full year forecasts trimmed

On The Beach grew adjusted profits 15% in the first half of the year but the bottom and top line were affected by the collapse of Monarch Airlines, while separately chairman Richard Segal has decided to step down.

The online short-haul beach holiday specialist reported its first half-year results as a FTSE 250-listed company, with group revenue of £45.3m in the six months to 31 March, up 19% on the same period last year.

UK revenue of £44.4m was up 19%, which was faster growth than the past full year but slower than the 23% reported in the first four months of this financial year.

There was an estimated £1.1m impact for lost bookings due to winter seat availability and seat pricing following the Monarch failure.

International revenue increased 51% to £0.9m, with Sweden enjoying its strongest period of trading since launch, supported by an increased investment in Sweden and Norway to accelerate growth.

Daily unique visitors increased 24% to 34.1m and 62% of traffic to the website is now branded or non-paid compared to 57% in the same period a year ago.

UK revenue post marketing grew 19% to £23.0m which reflects accelerated investment in iSunshine.co.uk, acquired a year ago, and driving traffic to build momentum.

Group adjusted EBITDA increased 14% to £15.4m, with the UK up 17% to £17m and international losses of £1.6m compared to £1m a year ago.

Sunshine has lower margins, while across the board some "modest and tactical discounting" was made, which house broker Numis suggested bookings and market share grew faster than revenue.

Adjusting for the slower revenue growth and additional investment in international, Numis trimmed its full year revenue forecast 5% and PBT 4%.

Chief executive Simon Cooper said booking growth strengthened towards the end of the period and has continued into the second half. He added: "Given the resilient and flexible nature of our business model, the board remains confident in delivering a full year result in line with management's expectations, taking into account the one-off impact of flight capacity constraints as a result of the Monarch failure and the accelerated investment to support International growth.

"To support our continued desire to attract and retain the best digital talent, we have signed a lease on a new digital HQ in Manchester which has the capacity to support our growth ambitions. Fit out work will begin shortly and we are scheduled to occupy this exciting new space by the end of 2018."

Chairman Segal will be succeeded by Lee Ginsberg, currently senior independent non-executive director, at a date yet to be confirmed, with his senior independent director role taken by David Kelly. Both Ginsberg and Kelly have been on the board since listing.