Saga Group’s ocean and river cruise divisions returned to profit in the first half of the year with its tour operating business on track to do the same by the end of 2023.
The over-50s travel and insurance specialist reported a pre-tax profit at its two ship ocean cruise arm of £12.9 million against a loss of £6.9 million in the first six months of 2022.
Saga’s river cruise division saw first half pre-tax profits recover to £1.5 million from a loss of £2.1 million in the same period last year.
Tour operations suffered a loss of £2.6 million for the six months ending July 31, in line with the previous year.
However, booked tour operations revenue for the full year of £155.8 million is 46% ahead of the same point in 2022, with the volume of booked passengers 27% ahead.
“This places the business on track to return to an underlying profit pefore tax for the full year, in line with previous guidance,” Saga said.
“At the same date, booked revenue in relation to 2024-25 departures was £67.5 million from 19,400 passengers. This compares with revenue of £58.9 million and 18,100 passengers at the same point in the year before, reflecting an increase in the number of passengers booking, but also a higher revenue per passenger.”
Looking forward, Saga expects to achieve at least £40 million in ocean cruise trading profit [ebitda] per ship for the full year, with a load factor of around 86%, “with the opportunity to grow this further in 2024-25”.
River cruise and tour operations, when combined, are projected to return to an underlying pre-tax for the full year, in line with pre-pandemic levels, according to the company as it released interim financial results.
The overall group cut year-on-year pre-tax losses in the six months to £77.8 million from £261.8 million as revenue grew by 15% to £355.3 million.
Group chief executive Euan Sutherland said: “I am pleased to announce a 15% increase in revenue for the first half of the year, due to the continued growth of our cruise and travel businesses, in addition to further debt reduction.
“Alongside this, under consistent accounting standards, we report an underlying half year profit that is broadly in line with the prior year.
“In ocean cruise, bookings are on track to achieve our targets for the full year, reflecting continued strong customer demand, while our river cruise business has returned to profit with a 34% increase in guest numbers.
“Travel [tour operating] is also on track to return to profit for the full year.”