Education business saving the day at Holidaybreak

Holidaybreak, the short break specialist that is being taken over by Cox and Kings, said sales intake is down 4% on last year but it has seen a late surge in bookings at its camping division.Martin Davies, group chief executive, said the group is confident of performing in line with management expectations for the year ending 30 September, 2011."Trading for 2011/12 is strong with our education businesses currently 61% booked with PGL UK outdoor education centres 84% booked. Overall, Education is showing revenue growth of 6% year on year," Davies revealed.Looking at trading since the beginning of April, the group sale Education sales intake is 1% below last year but added that the fall in volumes has been more than offset by improvements in gross margin through effective yield management at PGL. Meininger, the German school accommodation business in which Holidaybreak acquired a 50% stake in December 2010, is 22% ahead of last year in sales intake. The Adventure division's sales intake is currently 3% below last year with the geopolitical events in the Middle East and North Africa negatively affecting performance.Hotel Breaks sales intake is 10% below last year with the ongoing difficult consumer environment affecting performance, particularly Superbreak's sales through the retail travel trade. The loss at Superbreak of airport hotel contracts with large retail travel agents continues to affect performance adversely, although this is a low margin product, the group noted. Excluding these airport hotel contracts, the underlying trend shows sales intake currently at 8% below last year. In the camping division, once the core of the business but now increasingly marginalised, sales intake is 2% below last year in the context of a 3% reduction in capacity. The division has benefited from a strong demand for late bookings in the UK and Dutch markets. --jh