The TUI Group reported an increase in turnover at constant currency of 9.1% to €3.58 bill, compared to €3.28 bill in 1Q17, for the financial year’s first quarter results (1st October to 31st December, 2017).
Including foreign exchange effects, turnover also increased substantially by 8.1%. Underlying EBITA at constant currency improved by 57.9% to a seasonal loss of €25.4 mill (1Q17 €-60.3 mill). Including foreign exchange effects, EBITA improved by 58.7%.
“Q1 2018 has shown that TUI is on track, we continue to grow. Following three consecutive years of double-digit earnings growth, we are aiming to deliver similarly strong growth in 2018. That is why we are delighted about our very good Q1 performance. Turnover climbed by 9.1% and we increased our customer numbers by 4.4% year-on-year,” said CEO Fritz Joussen (pictured).
“Our strategy is successful. Our focus is on hotels and cruises. While we used to be a trading company, we have now become developers, investors, and operators. This makes TUI more profitable, and we now generate our earnings more evenly across 12 months. In the completed financial year, our hotels, cruise businesses and Destination Services delivered 59% of our underlying earnings. And we continue to invest in digitalisation: It helps us enhance our Group’s efficiency and offer our customers relevant, tailored products and services.
“Thanks to the use of the blockchain and our own yield management system, we manage our bed capacity considerably more efficiently, and our CRM systems allow us to gain a single view of the customer and deliver individualised offers,” he said at a presentation given at TUI’s AGM in Hanover earlier this month.
The company said that the Cruises segment continued its growth path during the period with a significant increase in its underlying earnings.
For example, underlying EBITA was up by 33.5% to €37.5 mill, compared with €28.1 mill in 1Q17. At constant currency, the underlying EBITA increased by 34.5% to €37.8 mill.
The average rates per passenger per day were –
*TUI Cruises – €149, compared to €143. Average occupancy was 98.9%, compared to 99.5%.
*Marella Cruises – €129, compared to €122. Average occupancy was 101%, compared with 101.2%.
*Hapag-Lloyd – €533, compared with €549 mill. Average occupancy 75.5%, compared with 71.3%.
Due to the continued growth in demand, TUI is to expand its cruise segment with an additional vessel in the Mein Schiff fleet. A sister vessel to the new ‘Mein Schiff 1’ and ‘Mein Schiff 2’ will be built at the Finnish Meyer Turku shipyard. She will have a capacity of up to 2,894 passengers. To be named ‘Mein Schiff 7’, she is scheduled for delivery in 2023.
In June, 2017, ‘Mein Schiff 6’ joined TUI Cruises’ fleet. ‘Mein Schiff 1’ will be delivered in May, 2018. In addition, Marella Cruises has also modernised its fleet: ‘Marella Discovery 2’ was introduced in May, 2017, while ‘Marella Majesty’ left the fleet during the period
