8 Oct 2015 07:00
8 October 2015
Dart Group PLC ("the Group")
Trading Statement and Notice of Results
Dart Group PLC, the Leisure Travel and Distribution & Logistics group, is pleased to give the following update on trading for the first half of the financial year ending 31 March 2016.
Leisure Travel
Summer 2015 trading in our Leisure Travel business has been consistently strong with demand for our package holidays continuing to grow as Jet2holidays took 936k (2014: 771k) customers on holiday, an increase of 21%, representing 41% (2014: 33%) of overall flown customers.
Our leisure airline, Jet2.com, flew a total of 4.53m (2014: 4.62m) passengers in the six months to 30 September 2015, a slight decrease of 1.9% over the same period last year against a backdrop of considered seat capacity reductions. Despite the increased proportion of package holiday customers, our important flight-only product was enjoyed by 2.65m passengers in the period. As a result of the seat capacity management and buoyant customer demand, the business achieved a record average load factor of 94.1% (2014: 91.8%) alongside a significant increase in average ticket yield of 16.4%.
Distribution & Logistics
Our Distribution & Logistics business, Fowler Welch, continues to trade ahead of last year and in line with expectations as it focuses on growing its revenue pipeline and the successful development of existing and new business opportunities.
Outlook
In what has proven to be an exceptional summer season, the Group's operating profit for the six months ended 30 September 2015 is expected to be at least 60% ahead of the same period in the previous year (2014 underlying: £89.4m), although increased losses are expected in the second half as a function of the expansion of our seasonal Leisure Travel operations.
With winter 15/16 Leisure Travel bookings for both package holiday and flight-only products continuing to perform in line with expectations and notwithstanding the important post-Christmas booking period that is still to come, it is now apparent that Group performance for the full year ending 31 March 2016 will materially exceed current market expectations.
The Group intends to announce its interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2015 on 19 November 2015.
For further information contact:
Dart Group PLC Philip Meeson, Group Chairman and Chief Executive | Tel: 0113 238 7444 |
Gary Brown, Group Chief Financial Officer | |
Smith & Williamson Corporate Finance Limited Nominated Adviser David Jones | Tel: 020 7131 4000 |
Canaccord Genuity - Joint Broker Guy Marks / Mark Whitmore | Tel: 020 7523 8000 |
Arden Partners - Joint Broker Christopher Hardie | Tel: 020 7614 5900 |
Buchanan - Financial PR Richard Oldworth | Tel: 020 7466 5000 |