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(Alliance News) - Tui AG on Wednesday described 2021 as a "transition year", as the tour operator narrowed its losss amid a general recovery in holiday bookings but warned trading could deteriorate due to new travel restrictions caused by the Omicron variant.
The Hanover, Germany-based firm slashed its pretax loss for the year that ended September 30 to EUR2.46 billion from EUR3.20 billion the previous year. Revenue was EUR4.73 billion, down 40% from EUR7.94 billion in the prior year that was partially before the pandemic.
The success of vaccination programmes towards the end of the year and the rebound of leisure travel, particularly across Continental Europe during the Summer, were hailed by Tui as giving trading a positive boost.
Results in the fourth quarter were singled out as being particularly strong. Revenue more than doubled to EUR3.37 billion versus EUR1.23 billion a year earlier, while pretax loss narrowed substantially to EUR71 million from EUR836 million.
A smaller debt pile also was highlighted as a reason for optimism, paid down by EUR1.4 billion in the three months to September 30 to EUR5.0 billion. However Tui warned that if cash was not adequately managed, reserves through the winter low-period could crimp liquidity and its ability to settle debts.
Lest positively, increased media coverage of rising Covid-19 incident rates and the emergence of the new Omicron variant has weakened sales momentum, particularly for Winter 2021-22, Tui said. Winter bookings are currently just 62% of the pre-pandemic 2018-19 season.
Looking ahead, Tui said it cannot provide financial guidance for financial 2022, blaming difficulties in predicting the pandemic's impact on travel. However, Tui said it has an "encouraging pipeline" of 2.2 million bookings for the Summer 2022 holiday season.
"Customer bookings may deteriorate due to new travel restrictions, insufficient vaccination coverage against the Covid-19 virus in individual countries, and virus variants such as the new Omicron virus variant, for which there may not be sufficient vaccination protection, thereby affecting Tui Group's performance," the company said.
Tui shares were down 4.3% at 208.20 pence in London early Wednesday.
By Will Paige; willpaige@alliancenews.com
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