Western and Oriental posts half year profit

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Luxury travel specialist Western & Oriental has reported a profit for its half-year that ended 31 March.

Its losses of £2 million one year ago were turned around, into pre-tax profits of £100,000.

The improved performance during the traditionally-weaker winter season was attributed to “early and decisive action” on the company’s cost base and the integration process.

Revenue for the period dropped to £28.4 million from £29.2 million for the same period last year, excluding its discontinued German businesses, Western & Oriental said.

Forward sales values were reported at £18.9 million on 31 March, or down by 26.4 per cent from a value of £25.6 million at the same point in 2008, mainly due to significantly-later customer bookings.

The time-frame for forward bookings has been reduced from an average 18 weeks in advance to just 10 weeks.

The company commented “that lack of visibility, especially for the key summer months, does make planning more difficult.”

It noted that the weakness of the pound against the euro and the US dollar and the recession had an impact on its results for the first half-year.

Western & Oriental went on to say: “We are therefore delighted with the materially improved result compared with last year. However, these factors continue to have a drag on the overall travel industry and we therefore approach the second half of the 2009 financial year with caution.”

Thanks to www.travelmole.com for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

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