Travel firm Hogg Robinson 25 May 2011 17:56
shrugs off ash, unrest
By Tresa Sherin Morera
LONDON | Wed May 25, 2011 12:00pm BST
LONDON (Reuters) - Corporate travel firm Hogg Robinson (HRG.L) shrugged off the latest volcanic ash cloud to hit Europe and unrest in North Africa and the Middle East, saying short-term travel disruption was often good for business.
"We don't see this having any impact on our business at all," Finance Director Julian Steadman told Reuters.
"Whenever travel plans have to change, that creates work for us, and this inevitably means that we create some additional revenues from that."
Two German airports halted flights on Wednesday after ash from an Icelandic volcano drifted south into European air routes.
Steadman's comments came as the British company predicted 10 percent operating profit growth this year thanks to a rebound in demand for business travel and posted slightly better than expected results, helping send its shares up as much as 7 percent.
"We are comfortable with the numbers in the market ... They are generally looking at about a 5 percent increase in revenue, with nearly two times that in terms of operating profit increase," Steadman said in a telephone interview.
Hogg Robinson, which was established in 1845 and whose customers include Britain's Ministry of Defence and German carmaker Volkswagen, also raised its final dividend 25 percent.
"The macro numbers clearly show that we are back pretty much at the levels of the pre-recession, and for airline passengers slightly ahead," Steadman said.
International air freight and passenger traffic picked up in January, but political unrest in the Middle East and Africa and natural disasters in Japan could make 2011 a challenging year for many travel firms, according to airline body IATA.
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