Hays Travel achieved a 43% leap in pre-tax profits to £73.4 million in the year to April 30.
The rise came as total transaction values increased by 17% year-on-year to £2.55 billion.
The financial performance for the UK’s largest travel agency group was disclosed five years to the day that Hays Travel received the licence to operate Thomas Cook’s entire retail estate of 555 shops following the collapse of the travel giant.
The Sunderland-based company has since acquired Explorer Franchise in 2021; Just Go’s 45 northwest branches, and Travel House’s 16 shops in South Wales in 2023; then three Holiday With Us branches in Lincolnshire, and 19 Miles Morgan Travel shops in the southwest and Wales this year.
A number of former Thomas Cook agency branches have also closed since the acquisition.
The pandemic that followed 14 weeks after the Thomas Cook retail takeover saw £4.9 million profit in October 2019 turning into £34.2 million loss in April 2021.
However, Hays Travel has been back in the black for the past three years amid increasing consumer confidence in travel.
Owner and chair Dame Irene Hays indicated a continued desire to expand on the high street as customers seek more human interaction as travel disruption increases.
She told the Financial Times: “If it’s the right geographic fit and the right company, we’re still acquiring.”
Hays’s confidence in rising demand for travel agents among consumers comes at a time when the company saw a nine per cent annual growth in customer numbers over the past fiscal year, up to 1.9 million.
“If it’s a simple [travel] transaction, people may book directly online,” Hays told the newspaper, listing recent events such as “airline disruptions, volcanoes in Iceland or wildfires in Rhodes and man-made geopolitical issues such as wars”, referring to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which have changed that equation.
“I think people want a human being there to help them out . . . if they have a problem, miss their connection somewhere, and need to get rebooked,” she said, adding that Hays’s 4,000 consultants are specialised in dealing with such problems since Covid.
She said: “No one could have predicted a global pandemic when we took on Thomas Cook, but even with hindsight I would do it all again.
“It’s thanks to the effort and resilience of our Hays Travel colleagues and the many colleagues who joined us from Thomas Cook that we were able to care for our customers during lockdown, and were here to help them travel again, as soon as the restrictions were lifted.
“Over the last five years, as we have adapted and continued to grow,
“I am proud that we have remained true to our vision and values, and our strategic priorities: our people, our customers, and the communities where we operate.”