Kuoni Group reveals tour operator losses of £118m

In the first six months of the year, tour operators in Switzerland, the UK, Scandinavia/Finland, Benelux, India and Hong Kong lost £118 million, compared with £28 million in the six months to the end of June 2014.

Kuoni sold the UK tour operation and all its European businesses to DER Touristik for an undisclosed sum in late June. It plans to concentrate on new markets, such as Asia and to be more of a wholesaler.

Without these losses taken into account, the Swiss group saw net profits fall from £18.85 million to £3.92 million, a fall of 79%.

Peter Meier, Kuoni Group chief executive, blamed currency movements for the dip in profitability of the remaining businesses.

“Kuoni Group’s organic growth above market in first half of 2015 vindicates the new strategic direction initiated at the beginning of the year and the focus on global B2B business areas. However, the strong Swiss franc had a significant negative impact on turnover due to the conversion into our presentation currency,” he said.

He said the Group’s Global Travel Distribution (GTD) and VFS Global had recorded strong growth, with VFS processing more than 10 million visa applications for the first time.

He added that the sale of tour operating activities meant Kuoni was achieving its objective of a new strategic direction “faster than planned”.