Results round-up
Dignity reported a 15% jump in revenue for the first quarter as underlying profit and the number of deaths rose and the company reiterated its full-year expectations.
The group, which provides funeral-related services, said revenue rose to £93.3m in the 13 weeks to the end of March from £81.2m the year before, as underlying operating profit grew to £37.4m from £31.1m. Meanwhile, the number of deaths increased to 167,000 from 156,000.
Still, the group said it continues to assume that the number of deaths this year will be lower than 2016.
Dignity said its pre-arranged funeral plan business is trading well, with sales significantly higher than the first quarter of last year. In addition, the company has completed the acquisition of a total of 12 funeral locations and one small crematorium for around £20m. This includes one funeral location acquired after 31 March, but prior to the date of this announcement.
Further acquisition activity is expected throughout the year and Dignity has opened three satellite locations in the period, submitted a planning application for a new crematorium and is still awaiting a decision on another crematorium planning application.
Chief executive Mike McCollum said: "This has been a strong start to the year, with all parts of the business performing well. The group's expectations for the full year remain positive and unchanged."
Thomson travel owner Tui remains confident it can grow underlying earnings 10% this year even though seasonal losses grew in the first half.
Recent trading for summer 2017 has been in line with expectations, with revenue 8% ahead of last year as customer numbers grew 4% thanks to greater demand for Greece, Spain, Cape Verde, Cyprus and long haul destinations such as the Caribbean offsetting lower demand for Turkey and Egypt. Prices are so far ahead by 4%, with the programme 62% sold, in line with last year.
Driven by growth in its own cruise and hotel brands, revenue for the six months until the end of March grew 8.2% to €6.69bn and underlying losses before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation declined 3.8% to a €214.4m loss, although if the later Easter and currency effects are removed the loss improved by 6.3%.
In the second quarter, the Anglo-German group increased turnover 4.4% to €3.1bn, although total underlying EBITDA losses declined 22% to €154m.
Forex had a €17m benefit for EBITDA and the timing of Easter was attributed a €38m dent, while there were €31m benefits from the merger of the German and UK businesses.
Fritz Joussen looked past the effect of Easter and foreign exchange rates and saw only positives: “Our transformation to an integrated tourism business is on track. We are delivering strong growth in our hotel and cruise brands. These two segments contribute half of our operating result on a full year basis.
"The TUI Group is changing quickly – our guidance remains unchanged despite a challenging environment. We reiterate our guidance to deliver at least 10 per cent growth in underlying EBITA this year.”
The Hotels & Resorts business delivered substantial growth in its operating result, with underlying EBITA up 28% to €122.8m.
As the cruises sector continued on its growth course, with Tui's underlying EBITA up 52% to €75m, as strong growth was delivered both by TUI Cruises and Thomson Cruises due to the successful expansion of their fleets in summer 2016.
Looking by region, the loss of the tour operating business in Tui's three source market totalled €378.9m, or €384m if excluding Easter effects and currencies, with earnings also hit by Tuifly's €24m sickness charge from German pilots all calling in sick in early October.