Thomas Cook (India) declared its second quarter results today with an increase in consolidated PBT of 11 per cent from Rs 481 Mn to Rs 532 Mn for the half year ended June 30, 2013. The company also showed a significant improvement in core operating cash flows with an 84 per cent growth to Rs. 587 million Vs Rs. 319 million for the corresponding period last FY.
This quarter saw the formal integration of Ikya Human Capital Solutions into the TCIL Group.
Ikya Group has also posted impressive standalone Q1 results, with Revenue and EBT growing significantly – by 58 per cent and 19 per cent respectively against the same quarter last year.
Against a challenging backdrop of spiralling airfares, a depreciating Rupee and negative consumer sentiment in a sluggish economy, TCIL’s outbound business displayed resilience, with an increase of 15 per cent over Q2 of the previous financial year. The Rupee depreciation between January and June 2013 alone, made an entry level Group holiday package to Europe for a family of four, costlier by approximately Rs. 1 lakh, forcing many families in the budget holiday segment, to reconsider their plans.
The launch of TCIL’s own in-house DMC (Destination Management Company) for its European operations enabled the company to leverage the benefits of direct buying and ensure better pricing. This coupled with innovative product and marketing offers such as its “Holiday pe Holiday, Free”, served to give the company a fillip in what is an otherwise depressed outbound market. Planned and focussed expansion, via a combination of owned branch offices and the company’s “Gold Circle Partner” (GCP) Franchisee model and their Preferred Sales Agents (PSA) outlets across metros and regional Tier II and III markets, helped develop the scope and scale of the leisure business.
TCIL’s recently created Domestic vertical also delivered a commendable performance with a sales growth of 10 per cent over Q2 of 2012. The company also is upbeat about tapping the potential of the Sri Lankan market, and a new branch in Negombo, was also opened recently.
Commenting on the results, Madhavan Menon, Managing Director, Thomas Cook (India) said, “Despite overall turbulence as a result of frequent increases and surcharges in air fares, the sharp Rupee depreciation trend and an overall negative travel consumer sentiment, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. has managed to deliver positive results with a growth of 11 per cent in consolidated PBT in Q2 2013. Both our Leisure Outbound and Domestic teams have delivered strongly with Outbound Travel registering a revenue growth of 15 per cent.”
Elaborating further he said, “Better working capital management, as also reorganisation of our Inbound and Corporate Travel businesses, have delivered well for us – with an over 80 per cent increase in our operating cash flows for the period. This is something that my team and I will continue to be focused on in these challenging times. Looking ahead – with an increase in advance outbound bookings of around 10% in what is clearly a very challenging period, we are confident that Thomas Cook India will continue its leadership in the travel domain” He added “Our “Borderless” Multi currency Prepaid Forex Card, is seeing a lot of positive traction among corporate and retail customers alike, with approximately 30,000 cards sold as of date, and approximately USD 100 Mn. loaded already. We have doubled our customer base in the last 3 months alone!”
Ajit Isaac, CEO of Ikya was quoted as saying “This has been an exciting period for us at the Ikya Group level, with our Revenue and EBT growing significantly, by 58% and 19% respectively against the same quarter last year – and we are looking forward to the synergies that our recent integration with Thomas Cook (India) Limited Group, are bound to generate”
