On The Beach Group PLC (LON:OTB) is gearing up to grab market share by upping marketing spend following the collapse of Thomas Cook.
The package holiday seller said in a full-year update on Monday that trading over the year to 30 September remained in line with its revised expectations, which were scaled back in August because of the weakening of sterling against the euro.
On The Beach said it has “an unprecedented opportunity to take additional market share at an increased rate” and has started to increase its marketing investment in its luxury holiday portfolio, and websites onthebeach.co.uk and sunshine.co.uk.
The statement is the latest in a series of sunny-sky updates from holiday companies after Thomas Cook's collapse, with flight operator TUI AG (LON:TUI) adding 2mln seats for next summer and Jet2 owner Dart Group PLC (LON:DTG) upgrading its full-year expectations.
There has been downside for On The Beach, as Thomas Cook's liquidation in August landed it with immediate holiday cancellations, since many of its packages relied on the travel firm’s aircraft for 15% of its overall flight capacity.
Chief executive Simon Cooper said On the Beach has “an exciting opportunity to significantly increase its market share over the short to medium term by leveraging its strong brand and core capabilities."
Shares rose 1% to 443.9p in early trading on Tuesday.
Broker Liberum said On The Beach could gain “£10mln to £15mln” higher profits in the longterm from the demise of a rival holiday firm, which may start to show in the first half of next year and “far outweigh” the short term disruption to flights