TUI Travel profits up, cash boosted in FY2010

TUI Travel revenue down 2% - underlying* financial highlights for the 12 months ended 30-Sep-2010:

• Revenue: GBP13,525 million, -2% year-on-year*:
• Operating profit: GBP447 million, +11%;
• Profit before tax: GBP337 million, +4%;
• Total assets: GBP9245 million, +1.6%;
• Cash and cash equivalents: GBP1304 million, +65.1%;
• Total liabilities: GBP7272 million, +5.1%. [more]

*Underlying operating profit and underlying profit before tax are from continuing operations and exclude separately disclosed items, amortisation of acquisition related expenses, goodwill impairment and taxation of results of the group's joint ventures and associates. Underlying profit before tax also excludes separately disclosed financial expenses.
**Excludes the estimated financial impact of the closures of European airspace as a result of volcanic ash

TUI Travel estimates a GBP125 million impact on revenue and a GBP104 million impact on gross profits as a result of the volcanic ash disruptions between 15-Apr-2010 and 23-Apr-2010.

TUI Travel: "Our journey is not complete, however, and we have a number of remaining initiatives to drive further profit improvements. Of these, the turnaround of Corsair, our French airline, is a significant opportunity and the agreement with employee representatives we are announcing today is an important milestone towards making the airline viable. We have seen sustained improvement in demand since July and recent trading for future seasons remains positive in most source markets. Whilst current booking activity is good, driven by demand for our differentiated products, we remain cautious about 2011 given the continued economic uncertainty and the relatively early stage of the booking cycle," Peter Long, CEO. Source: TUI Travel, 02-Dec-2010.