Political Unrest in Egypt Affect Travel Company in Peterborough

I’m sure by now, if you’ve not been living under a stone, you would have heard about the POLITICAL unrest in Egypt and Tunisia which apparently is expected to cost Peterborough-based travel company Thomas Cook £20 million.

The Peterborough based company has said that its second quarter figures will be affected by the strife in the African countries.

Yesterday they announced in their Interim Management Statement that it had increased its revenue by seven per cent to £1.81 billion in its first-quarter, and this was three months up to December 2010.

The Peterborough Company, which employs approx 2,000 people at its HQ in Bretton, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, still operated at a loss of £37.3 million within that period but this loss has fallen by around 10 per cent compared to December 2009, when the loss was £41.6 million.

The situation could worsen for the Thomas Cook with holidaymakers staying away from Egypt after violent clashes in Cairo as protesters call for the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak.

The full impact of the situation on the Peterborough travel firm will not be clear until the end of March 2011.

A spokesman said: “All travel to these markets is currently restricted with the exception, in line with UK Government advice, of travel from the UK to Red Sea resorts. We estimate the unrest will have an impact on our second quarter profits of around £20 million. Looking forward, we have implemented contingency plans to help mitigate the financial impact by rebalancing the programme to other destinations.”

Peterborough Based Thomas Cook sells a million holidays to Egypt and around 600,000 to Tunisia each year.

Despite this grim prediction for the second quarter, group chief executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa expressed optimism that the firm had reduced its losses and there are positive signs for the summer, particularly in European markets.

He said: “I am pleased to report that we made a good start to the financial year.

“Throughout continental Europe, the economic environment continues to support demand, which is reflected in our bookings and capacity plans. In the UK, while the consumer outlook remains uncertain, we have seen an increase in summer bookings and actions taken by us to reduce costs will further strengthen the business.”

Thomas Cook’s summer bookings in the UK are up six per cent compared to last year which is good news to report.

Stonehouse Accountants are a Peterborough based Accountancy firm specialising in the following:

Accountancy Services:

  • Annual Account Preperation
  • Basic Bookkeeping, VAT, PAYE
  • Changing Accountants in Peterborough
  • Inland Revenue Tax Return
  • Limited Companies
  • Partnership Tax Return
  • Payroll Service
  • Sole Trader Tax