On The Beach says it expects a strong lates market as consumers put off buying holidays due to a dip in confidence following terrorist attacks.
The Manchester-based OTA, that completed a successful IPO last year, saw UK revenues increase 21% to £35 million in the six months to the end of March.
In a trading statement it reported a 50% leap in operating profit to £7.4 million from £4.8 million in the first half of last year. EBITDA was up 36.5% to £11.6 million.
The OTA said it has seen a “sharp reduction” in consumer confidence in the aftermath of terrorist atrocities in Europe.
And with demand shifting west in the Mediterranean it said consumers were choosing to delay the timing of booking a holiday.
“We expect FY 2016 to have a more predominant volume of bookings in the ‘lates’ summer period compared to previous years”, it said.
Simon Cooper, chief executive of On the Beach Group said: “The business has delivered impressive financial results in the first half that highlight the resilient and flexible nature of our model. I am pleased that we continue to make strong progress in delivering our strategic objectives.
“The terrorist acts in late 2015 and early 2016 created uncertainty and volatility in the holiday market however the business has adapted to changes in typical consumer practices by focusing on securing incremental supply in the Western Mediterranean, enhancing margin, delivering operational efficiencies and retaining an efficient level of spend in driving demand to site.
“In the absence of any future negative market events, we anticipate stronger consumer confidence in the second half of the financial year, buoyed by a strong lates market, and are on track to meet our expectations for the full year.”
On The Beach said daily unique visitors to its website increased by 17% to 26.4 million while the proportion of revenue spent on online marketing decreased to 46.3% from 48.8%) year on year.
Revenue per daily unique visitor increased by 3.9% to £1.33 from £1.28 and the firm said its first year of full national TV advertising has resulted in an increase in prompted brand awareness to 46% from 34%.
On The Beach’s fledgling international business in the Swedish has seen more investment and seen revenues double to £500,000 and unique visitors jump 140% to 1.13 million.