Cook has reported a first quarter revenue growth of 7% to £1.75 billion, along with a £10 million improvement in the seasonal underlying operating loss.
Gross profit of £376 million was £16 million higher than last year, while gross margin of 21.5% represents a decline of 50 basis points over the same period last year, “due to higher Spanish hotel bed cost inflation”, and a lower mix of long haul sales in the quarter.
Peter Fankhauser, chief executive, said: “While it remains early in our sales cycle, we’ve got the year off to a good start.
“A particularly strong performance from our group airline, taking advantage of the disruption in the UK and German markets by providing a high quality and reliable service to customers, has helped deliver revenue growth.
“From all that we see so far, customers’ appetite for a summer holiday abroad shows no sign of slowing down.
“We’ve taken early action to meet strong demand for destinations in the Eastern Mediterranean.
This has enabled us to shift capacity out of the Spanish islands where we have seen a continuation of the margin pressures we experienced last summer, particularly for the UK market.
“In addition, we’ve made good progress in strengthening our group airline. This includes expanding our capacity by 10% for summer 2018 to meet the increased customer demand we have experienced in recent months, and builds on the strong recovery in our German airline, Condor.
“This remains a highly competitive - and, at times, unpredictable - market, as the disruption in the airlines sector in recent months demonstrates.
“However, based on current trading and the continued progress we are making on implementing our customer-focused strategy for profitable growth, we expect to deliver a performance in line with current expectations for the full-year.”
