Thomas Cook Regulatory News (TCG)

25 March 2010

Thomas Cook Group

AGM and Pre-close Trading Update

Ahead of its Annual General Meeting at 1.30pm today, Thomas Cook is providing an update on the trading position set out in its Interim Management Statement on 11 February 2010. As the Winter 09/10 season draws to a close, trading has continued to show steady progress and Summer 10 bookings have continued to pick up across all major markets. The Board remains confident that the Group will perform in line with its expectations for the year.

Winter 09/10

Winter bookings continue to trend towards planned capacity levels, with changes in average selling prices broadly in line with those reported at the beginning of the season. Aircraft utilisation has been good, with the departed load factor to date ahead of last year at 93%.

Note: Figures as at 20/21 March. In Continental Europe, bookings represent all bookings including cars/overland. However, capacity represents airline seat capacity only. Northern Europe winter season is October-March. Excludes independent, non-risk business.

UK: The Winter programme is now 91% sold, broadly in line with last year. Recent bookings have improved strongly, with the resulting cumulative booking position trending towards capacity levels. Average selling prices, up 6% year on year, have been fairly stable throughout the season.

Continental Europe: In Continental Europe, year on year cumulative bookings have improved since we last reported. While average selling prices are down 7% year on year, margins are being maintained through a combination of input cost management and a shift in mix to higher margin holidays.

Northern Europe: In Northern Europe, the season is ending well, with cumulative bookings ahead of capacity and pricing strong (including a benefit from currency translation). The booked load factor at 99% is ahead of last year.

North America: The mainstream market remains competitive and cumulative bookings and prices are lower than last year. However, mainstream passengers represent around a half of total passengers in the peak winter season and an even lower proportion of profits as independent is now such a large part of our business.

Airlines Germany: Cumulative bookings are ahead of planned capacity reductions of 6% and Condor is now 85% booked for the Winter season. Yields are 9% down year on year, reflecting competitive pricing and lower fuel surcharges.

Summer 10

Trading for Summer 10 has shown good progress, with increased sales in recent weeks resulting in an improvement in the cumulative booking position across all our major markets. Cumulative average selling prices have continued ahead of last year in the UK and Northern Europe.

Note: Figures as at 20/21 March. In Continental Europe, bookings represent all bookings including cars/overland. However, capacity represents airline seat capacity only. Northern Europe summer season is April-September Excludes independent, non-risk business.

UK: Sales of summer holidays have shown considerable improvement, with bookings up 30% in the last four weeks and cumulative bookings ahead of planned capacity levels. The summer programme is now 54% sold (S09 53%), with 5% less left to sell for the season than at the same time last year; there is 17% less left to sell for May and 10% less for June. Average selling prices remain 2% ahead of last year and reflect the shift in mix away from higher priced long haul to lower priced but higher margin medium haul. We would expect prices to trend upwards against last year as less lates activity is anticipated.

Our independent businesses, whose statistics are not included in the table above, are trading well ahead of last year's level, with bookings up around 90% at Hotels4U and 40% at Gold Medal Netflights Retail.

Continental Europe: Bookings have strengthened and selling prices are stable since we last reported. We continue to see strong demand which is reflected in our capacity planning. Nevertheless we retain a high level of flexibility due to our asset light business model.

In Central Europe, cumulative bookings continue to improve. Although prices are down 3%, margins are underpinned by lower input costs. In the West and East European markets, average selling prices are down only 1% compared with last year.

Northern Europe: Strong sales in recent weeks for the peak summer holiday period have given us the confidence to increase capacity to last year's level. Pricing remains strong, 5% ahead of last year.

Airlines Germany: Summer bookings are flat compared with last year, aided by increased demand for intercontinental flights. Yields, down 2% overall, continue to be impacted by competitive pricing and lower fuel costs, but have benefitted from a higher share of intercontinental flights.

Hedging

Our fuel and foreign exchange hedging is as follows:

For winter 09/10, we are hedged: dollar 98%; euro 94%; and fuel 99%;

For summer 10, we are hedged: dollar 92%; euro 90%; and fuel 88%.

Other developments

On 10 March, Thomas Cook announced that it had agreed to acquire 100% of Think W3 Limited, the owner of Essential Travel. Essential Travel is one of the UK's leading online providers of travel-related products, including travel insurance, airport parking and airport hotels. In the financial year ended 31 March 2009, Essential Travel had gross assets of £2.5 million. The acquisition will provide Thomas Cook with a platform on which to build its financial services business and accelerate the growth of travel-related services online.

Enquiries

Conference call for investors and analysts

A conference call for investors and analysts will take place at 8am GMT today. Dial-in details for the call are as follows: