On the Beach Group PLC (LON:OTB) said it remains confident in its outlook after revenue from its core UK business jumped 20% in the four months to the end of January.
The travel agent, which specialises in beach holiday packages, saw strong mobile traffic, conversion growth and repeat purchases in the four-month period on the back of “incremental” offline marketing activity and an “increasingly efficient” online marketing spend.
READ: On the Beach profits shine despite impact of hot weather and World Cup on demand
The group said it also continues to make good progress in directly sourcing hotels and increasing the proportion of sales into its best-selling and more exclusive hotel product.
On the Beach’s expansion into long-haul destination sales was on track, having completed the full build of direct technical integration into the Emirates flights systems in January. It plans to add further carriers and hotels for long-haul holidays throughout the rest of this financial year.
Following the acquisition of Classic Collection Holidays in August 2018, the company is building a platform for its online agent-only booking portal, Classic Package Holidays. The portal is due to be launched in March.
The company has increased its marketing spending for the 2019 financial year after reducing investment last summer. The Swedish business is at breakeven while the group is ramping up investment into more recently launched markets.
A search is underway to find a replacement for interim chair David Kelly. The company is also looking for a new non-executive director after Lee Ginsberg, the former chairman of collapsed Patisserie Holdings’ audit committee, abruptly resigned.
READ: Following its collapse, who could be looking for a slice of Patisserie Valerie?
Ginsberg left the board “to focus on other time commitments”, less than three months after he stepped down as chairman of the travel agent.
In morning trading, shares rose 1.1% to 445.15p.