Sales at Center Parcs rose by almost 10% last year but the business was reportedly pushed into the red by one-off financing costs and losses on a hedging deal.
The company, with five holiday villages across the UK, changed hands last August when it was bought by Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management from private equity giant Blackstone.
In the 12 months to last April, takings grew to £420 million from £385 million the previous year, and underlying pre-tax profits jumped from £22.8 million to £57.3 million.
But Center Parcs recorded a one-off financing cost of £42 million – far higher than the previous year’s £6.4 million. The company also had to swallow a £16.8 million paper loss on financial derivatives, The Sunday Times reported.
These abnormal hits pushed the holiday park operator into a pre-tax loss of £6 million for 2015-16, against a profit of £22.7 million the previous year.
The latest Center Parcs village to open is Woburn Forest in Bedfordshire and the company recently won planning approval for its first resort in Ireland.