On The Beach Regulatory News (OTB)

7 February 2019

On the Beach Group plc

("On the Beach" or the "Group")

AGM Trading Update

On the Beach Group plc (LSE: OTB.L), the UK's leading online retailer for beach holidays, today issues the following trading update for the four months to 31 January 2019, in advance of its Annual General Meeting to be held today.

The Group has continued to perform well in the first four months of the financial year, driving Core UK (1) revenue growth after all marketing costs of +20%.

We are pleased to see the continuation of several long term trends, most notably strong mobile traffic and conversion growth, strong branded share and repeat purchase supported by incremental offline marketing activity and an increasingly efficient online marketing spend. We also continue to make good progress directly sourcing hotels and driving an increasing proportion of sales into our top selling and more exclusive hotel product.

We have made significant progress towards our aim to expand long haul sales, completing the full build of a direct technical integration into the Emirates flights systems in January and we will add further longer haul destinations, scheduled carriers and long haul hotels throughout the rest of this financial year.

Following the acquisition of Classic Collection Holidays in August 2018, we continue to work on the platform build for our online agent-only booking portal, Classic Package Holidays, with a planned launch in March 2019 and a phased rollout across the remainder of the calendar year.

In November 2018 we completed our move to the Group's new Digital HQ in Manchester city centre together with the expansion of our Operational HQ in Cheadle. These facilities will enable us to further increase our investment in talent and technology across the Group.

Following a reduced marketing investment internationally in summer 2018, we have increased marketing spend in FY19 in a cost effective manner. The Swedish proposition is achieving a breakeven performance after marketing costs whilst we continue to increase our investment into more recently launched markets.

Following recent Board changes, an external search process is underway to find a Chair of the Board, who will replace Interim Chair David Kelly, as well as an additional Non-Executive Director. We will provide an update as and when appropriate.

The Group will report Interim Results for the six months to 31 March 2019 on 14 May 2019.

Simon Cooper, Chief Executive of On the Beach Group plc, commented:

"The first four months of the new financial year has delivered another solid period of growth for the Group. Our strategy of investing in our brands, talent and technology to drive growth has delivered performance in line with the Board's expectations, with both new and repeat customers attracted to our wide range of value for money beach holidays. Whilst we remain cautious of the consumer environment in the period immediately prior to the 29th March, the Board remains confident in the Group's outlook and will continue to evaluate opportunities to enhance its market share position." 

(1)  Core UK revenue excluding the International & B2B (Classic Collection Holidays) segments

For further information:

About On the Beach

With over 20% share of online sales in the short haul beach holiday market, we are one of the UK's largest online beach holiday retailers. We have significant opportunities for growth and a long-term mission to become Europe's leading online retailer of beach holidays. By using our innovative technology, low-cost base and strong customer-value proposition to provide a structural challenge to legacy tour operators and online travel agents, we continue our journey to disrupt the online retail of beach holidays. Our model is customer-centric, asset light, profitable and cash generative.

www.onthebeachgroupplc.com

Cautionary statement

This announcement may contain certain forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results, operations and businesses of the Company. Forward looking statements are sometimes, but not always, identified by their use of a date in the future or such words as 'anticipates', 'aims', 'due', 'will', 'could', 'may', 'should', 'expects', 'believes', 'intends', 'plans', 'targets', 'goal' or 'estimates'. These forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements, including factors outside the Company's control. The forward-looking statements reflect the knowledge and information available at the date of preparation of this announcement and will not be updated during the year. Nothing in this announcement should be construed as a profit forecast.