Preliminary Results

23 January 2003 ONLINE TRAVEL CORPORATION PLC (OTC) PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR THE YEAR TO 31 OCTOBER 2002 Online Travel Corporation today announces its preliminary results for the year ended 31 October 2002, a year in which we achieved both positive EBITDA for the year (pre exceptionals), and positive operating cashflow for the second half. HIGHLIGHTS Positive EBITDA before exceptional items - Pre Web development costs £2.0m - Post Web development costs £0.4m Positive cash flow from operations in second half of 2002 48% increase in gross sales for the year to £85.5 million (2001: £57.7 million) 79% increase in leisure travel sales to £51.1 million (2001: £28.6 million) Launch of onlinetravel.com as our flagship brand Successful integration of EMAP and IfYouTravel and the continuing integration of the All-hotels and Travelstore acquisitions Post year end roll out of enhanced Order Processing System (OPS) across the group which will deliver improved cost efficiencies and higher customer conversion rates First sales of technology licences post year end for business (Envoy) and leisure (Travel Junction) Chief executive of Online Travel Corporation plc, Mark Jones said: 'In a challenging period for the travel sector we are pleased to have achieved such strong growth, particularly in our leisure division, where a 79% increase in sales is attributable to the expansion of our product range, including our pioneering Build-Your-Own holiday technology, and the increase in the number of major clients we secured during the year. Growth in gross travel sales since the year-end of over 70% and revenues from technology licensing is encouraging. These put us in a good position to harvest some benefits from the predicted growth in the online travel sector.' For further information, please contact: Online Travel Corporation plc: Mark Jones, Managing Director Tel + 44 (0) 20 8607 9281 Mark Simpkins, Finance Director Tel + 44 (0) 20 8401 8005 Altium Capital Limited: Tel +44 (0) 20 7484 4040 Garry Levin Tim Richardson Cardew Chancery: Tel + 44 (0) 20 7930 0777 Richard Fallowfield Jackie Range Chairman's Statement The Directors of Online Travel Corporation Plc ('OTC' or the 'Group') are pleased to present the trading results for the year ended 31 October 2002. In 2002 we reached an important milestone: we are pleased to report positive earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of £2.0 million before web development costs of £1.6 million, and exceptional items of £1.0m. Despite the serious dislocation caused by the events of 11 September 2001, the overall increase in gross sales value to £85.5 million represents growth of 48% on last year. This growth is driven by an increase of 79% in sales in our leisure travel and new media division to £51.1 million, due, in part, to growth in sales via our Build-Your-Own holiday technology. We have expanded our own brands with the successful launch of our new umbrella brand, onlinetravel.com, and have increased the number of clients that recognise the benefit of our services. New clients in the media industry include the The Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian, Mirror Group and Associated New Media, and peers in the e-travel industry include Priceline, Cheapflights and Zuji. We have also enhanced our relationships with major portals including BT, Freeserve, Virgin, and Tiscali. During the year we continued to build on the fundamentals of our long-term strategy increasing distribution channels, adding to the content of our sites, and creating operating efficiencies. We enhanced our organic growth with the acquisition of all-hotels.com and travelstore.com in the second half of the year, which have added new products, technology and customers. We continue to derive benefits from the integration of these businesses. OTC now provides the most comprehensive range of e-travel products and services in Europe and Asia-Pacific. We are increasingly excited by the opportunities afforded to the business through licensing our technology, both on the business and leisure front. We were pleased to be able to announce sales in both these areas since the year end. The introduction of the most advanced dynamic packaging technology, allowing our customers to Build-Your-Own holidays; the newly released state of the art Order Processing System that follows each transaction to completion, accounting and after sale service and our Licensing Services and Support Unit, offering third parties the use of our technology; will all produce operational and revenue efficiencies and assist OTC in becoming a sustainable and profitable Travel and Transactional Services Provider. Alan Judd did not seek re-election at the AGM on 20th March 2002 and accordingly ceased to be a director of the Company. We would like to thank Alan, who as a founder and former Chairman had made a large contribution to building OTC. Kyril Saxe-Coburg, a Non-Executive Director, resigned from the Board on 20th March 2002. Kyril had contributed to the development of OTC over the past eighteen months for which we are grateful and we thank him for his counsel. On 29th October 2002, Mark Simpkins was appointed to the Board as Finance Director. On the same day Robert Faulkner resigned from the Company and the Board would like to thank Robert for his contribution to OTC during his time with the Company. Whilst we do not underestimate the challenges of a growing business, the opportunities exist for our dedicated and enthusiastic management and employees to further build upon the efficiencies and opportunities created in the past year. Tommaso Zanzotto 23 January 2003 Chairman Financial Review Total transactional value for the Group during the year to 31 October 2001, including acquisitions and associates, rose 48% to £85.5 million (2001: £57.7 million). Statutory turnover increased to £70.2 million (2001: £46.1million) and statutory gross profit increased to £9.85 million (2001: £7.39 million). The gross margin percentage on statutory turnover decreased to 14% (2001: 16%) due both to a decrease in high margin incremental sales and a change to the charging mechanisms from the airline industry to fees and net invoicing rather than commissions. The number of annual transactions increased to 452,000 an increase of 76% on the previous year (2001:259,000) although the average value per transaction declined to reflect the reduction in the average travel value per transaction predominantly due to the introduction of lower cost flights from the major operators across both the business and leisure sector. The net loss after a taxation credit for Research and Development of 0.47 million is £2.56 million (2001: £2.57 million). The following table has been included for prior year comparison purposes, showing pro forma Total Transaction Value (including associates and acquisitions for the full year) and actual Total Transaction Value (including associates and acquisitions from purchase date). Ye 31 Oct 2002 YE 31 Oct 2001 £000's £000's Pro forma TTV (including associates and a full year of acquisitions) TTV 105,400 69,700 Gross Margin 14,100 9,700 Actual TTV (including associates) TTV 85,503 57,755 Gross Margin 11,419 8,400 Gross Margin % 13.4% 14.5% Operating Costs 9,381 8,094 ______ _______ EBITDA pre web and exceptional costs 2,038 306 Web Costs 1,649 1,580 EBITDA pre exceptional costs 389 (1,274) ______ _______ Exceptional cost 1,033 Depreciation and amortisation 1,747 860 Interest 641 434 ______ _______ Profit Before Taxation (3,033) (2,568) ______ _______ Taxation 473 ______ ______ Profit after Taxation (2,560) (2,568) Operating expenses Call centre support and customer relationship management costs increased to £ 4.2 million (2001: £3.6 million) as part of the drive to improve service levels and conversion rates. The development of dedicated call centres need to be made in advance of anticipated growth. The introduction of enhanced technology, especially in the flight booking engine, and continued benefits of scale, along with increased use of the internet to book, will result in lower costs as a percentage of sales in the financial year 2003. Sales and marketing costs of £1.8 million (2001: £1.3 million), reflects an absolute increase in marketing spend following the acquisition in the previous year of the EMAP and If You Travel brands. General administration and overhead costs increased to £3.4 million (2001: £3.1 million) reflecting the costs of expanding the senior management team and supporting infrastructure to meet increased volumes. The increase includes the cost of integrating acquisitions and the implementation of back-office efficiencies. We expect further operational efficiencies from the introduction of new technology solutions to our business processes. Web development and content costs of £1.65 million (2001: £1.58 million) reflect the continued improvements in the range and integration of travel products and content on our own and client sites. There is a further charge of £1.74 million (2001: £0.89 million) in depreciation and amortisation charges from the incorporation of our acquisitions and the development of propriety systems' technology. During the period the company was subjected to significant exceptional costs, totalling £1.03 million. These include the legal fees associated with aborted acquisitions, the restructuring of the senior management team and, as part of the integration of acquisitions made during 2001 and 2002, the reorganisation of staff. There is also a one off charge of £0.20 million that relates to the development and implementation of our new front-end reservations system and provisions against balance sheet items of £0.2 million. Cost reductions Our operating cost base pre exceptional items increased by 17% to £9.4 million (2001: £8.0 million), against an increase in gross sales of 48%. The proportional reduction in costs is derived from the combined impact of our cost reduction programme and a higher percentage of online bookings being transacted without call centre sales support. We expect to generate further proportional savings through economies of scale, the roll out of our new Order Processing System across all leisure divisions, .the continuing integration of Travelstore.com and all-hotels.com and by driving a higher proportion of transactions online. Cash balance Our cash balance at 31 October 2002 was £4.2 million (2002: £2.1 million). During the second half of the year the Group was cashflow positive, however, for the year as a whole there was an outflow from operations of £0.6 million. Mark Simpkins 23 January 2003 Finance Director Operational review The Group has made significant strides towards its objective of becoming a major technology based travel business. We already, in our opinion, provide the most diverse and comprehensive range of e-travel products in Europe. Despite a challenging time for the travel industry in 2002, we are pleased to report an overall growth in sales of 49% to £85.5 million. Operating costs (before exceptional items) increased by 17%, enabling OTC to achieve the significant milestone of positive earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of £0.2 million (before exceptional costs). Associates contributed an additional £0.2 million in profits. We continue to charge the majority of web development costs as they are incurred so the improvement to positive EBITDA (pre web development costs) of £ 2.0 million demonstrates the progress we have made. We are also pleased to report positive cashflow from operations in the second half of the year. Having raised £3.6 million in net funds from shareholders during the year, cash balances at 31 October 2002 were £4.2 million (2001 £2.1 million.) The increase in sales in our leisure division is attributable to the expansion of our product range, particularly our pioneering Build-Your-Own holiday technology, and the increase in the number of major clients we secured during the year. We will continue to increase the bredth and quality of our products and this should enable the Group to increase revenues from existing clients, and to attract both new clients and new customers. In the two months since the year-end, gross sales have increased by over 70% on the same period during 2002. We expect proportional future cost savings from the continuing integration of the acquisitions of all-hotels and Travelstore and further efficiencies from rolling out our new Order Processing System (OPS) across all divisions. The increase in sales at reduced proportional costs is encouraging and coupled with the anticipated growth in the online travel sector and incremental revenues from technology licensing, we are in a good position to harvest some benefit from our investment. Sales review We now operate over 100 travel sites for a wide range of portals, media groups, retailers and other travel businesses. During the year we renewed contracts with our largest clients including Freeserve, Tiscali, BT, Virgin.net and The Telegraph, new clients include Associated New Media, The Guardian, The Times, The Mirror, Nationwide, Priceline, Cheaflights, plus many new overseas clients including Ireland Online, ESAT Digital, Zuji, AOL and AltaVista. Our client list demonstrates the quality and unique nature of our offering, I would highlight our contract with ZUJI, the largest online travel company in Asia-Pacific and a joint venture of 16 leading Asia-Pacific airlines and Travelocity.com, as a demonstration of our ability to extend our offering to the International market. Increased brand awareness Our model enables large portals, media groups and retailers to provide e-travel services tailored to the needs of their customers. The recent launch of onlinetravel.com provides us with greater visibility on client sites and acts as our flagship brand. As the number of major media and retail clients grows, so does the awareness and value of our onlinetravel.com brand. Other own brands include all-hotels.com, bargainholidays.com, a2btravel.com, ferrybooker.com, specialist sites such as 1ski.com;ifyouski.com, ifyougolf.com ifyoudive.com and various activity, youth and explore sites and travelstore.com for the business traveller. These brands have direct customers, but also continue to be integrated into our client sites on a white label basis, adding to the quality of the content and products on offer. Transaction mix During the year overall transactions increased 79% to 452,000 (2001: 253,000)(* 76% including a full year of acquisitions to 549,000 (2001 312,000), however, we experienced a reduction in the average value per passenger due to price reductions by core travel suppliers, particularly in the business travel sector. The launch of new sites and the growth of our own brand sites increased annual visitors 18.2 million (2001: 6.8 million). The number of transactions initiated online increased to 71% of total transactions. We continue to offer our customers the choice of booking online or via our call centers, but our focus is on driving more business online to achieve the anticipated cost efficiencies of electronic booking. It is encouraging that annual transactions without call centre sales assistance increased to over 40%, verses 14% in 2001. This demonstrates increased consumer confidence in online booking and an improvement in the range and quality of our online products. A large part of this increase is due to the number of transactions via our Build-Your-Own holiday system, which increased to over 25% of leisure sales in the last quarter of 2002. As we make it easier for more travel products to be transacted online, we expect to reap the benefits of improved conversion rates of users to transacting customers, reduced call centre costs and other administrative cost savings derived from purely electronic processing. Technology licensing revenues In October 2002 we launched Envoy, an Internet based business travel management system that enables large corporate groups or travel agencies to manage their business travel requirements. Envoy evolved from the technology acquired with travelstore.com in June 2002, although the bulk of the Envoy development costs were incurred prior to acquisition. We, therefore, expect to benefit from future technology licensing revenues without having directly incurred the core development costs. The marketing agreement with Worldspan Services Ltd to help promote the Envoy product, announced in December 2002, will help us secure licensing customers. We are also offering leisure clients licences for Travel Junction, a technology product consisting of selected components of our leisure booking systems. Real opportunities exist in the travel market for licensing selected technology and the quality of our products for both the business and the leisure travel sectors places us in a strong position to capitalise through direct and third-party licensing agreements. Technology and product development Our investment in technology is geared to developing scaleable systems that encourage online sales at the front end and, by automating procedures, reducing costs at the back end. We remain focused on deploying our technology resources to realise the following objectives: Enhance the range and quality of our products Improve the functionality of our core booking engines Improve customer interface for an improved booking experience. Provide our clients with the advantages of unique products and personalisation Integrate sales and administration functions Strengthen our supporting infrastructure We continue to build the most diverse and comprehensive range of online travel products in Europe to attract more clients and customers and convert a higher percentage of users to transacting customers. Two developments are worth specific reference: `Build-your-Own' (BYO)- Perhaps the most significant development in the online travel sector in 2002 was recognition of the benefits of dymanic packaging. We were the first business in Europe to launch BYO, our proprietary system on schedule flights, hotels and villas that allows customers the flexibility to package component parts dynamically and build their own itinerary. BYO has achieved widespread acclaim since its first launch in Autumn of 2001 we have enhanced the range of products available and improved navigation and response times to make booking easier. Improved Order Processing System (OPS) - Our proprietary automated OPS launched in January 2002, and has been enhanced to include all administration aspects of travel transactions and, since November 2002, has been extended across all leisure divisions. We expect OPS to give improved service to customers and lead to more technology driven savings from administration and management reporting efficiencies. Travel Division Leisure and new media Our leisure and new media divisions experienced the highest rates of growth, increasing gross sales 79 % to £51.1 million, (2001: £28.6 million). A large element of the growth is due to the new flights and BYO holiday sales. We continue to integrate the technology from our specialist sites, including bargainholidays.com (charter packages) and our specialist ferry, ski, golf, dive and activity sites, plus recently acquired hotel products from all-hotels.com into the sites we operate. Corporate travel Our corporate division achieved a 26% growth in gross sales to £24.1 million, (2001: £19.2 million). Events of September 11, 2001, combined with a general economic slow down in USA and the Far East put considerable pressure on business travel budgets and had a significant impact of the corporate travel sector. In light of this, we are very pleased with the performance of our corporate business. We continue to streamline costs, and have relocated two central London sites to the Travelstore.com offices and call centre at Amersham. Trade concessions Sales to travel industry employees increased 4% to £10.3 million (2001: £9.9 million). The impact of redundancies in the European travel sector adversely affected sales in the first half of the year, but new services launched for airline staff, Airperx, and employee groups such as Travelex resulted in modest recovery in the second half of the year. We have increased the number of members of our various trade clubs to over 140,000, including our joint venture with Concorde International Travel in Asia Pacific. This also demonstrates the global reach of online travel concessions market. Outlook In what was perhaps the most challenging year in history for the travel industry, the online travel sector continued to grow. OTC continued to outperform the sector, testimony to the range of products and technology we have built and the commitment and efforts of our staff. Independent research still predicts considerable growth in the online travel sector over the next five years. Of particular interest is predicted growth in dynamic packaging, the online hotel market, vacation property rental and specialist activities. OTC is well positioned to benefit from this growth. We expect an increasing proportion of our gross sales to be booked online without sales assistance, and an increasing number to utilise our Build-Your-Own holiday system. We expect this to result in gross margin improvements. In the two months since the year-end, gross sales have increased by over 70% on the same period in the previous year, with transactions via our BYO system increasing to over 25% of leisure travel sales. The continued growth in gross sales at reduced proportional costs is encouraging and is expected to continue in 2003. This growth in sales revenues coupled with revenues from technology licensing is encouraging and put us in a good position to harvest some benefits from the predicted growth in the online travel sector. We look forward to keeping shareholders informed of our progress. Mark Jones Chief Executive Officer Online Travel Corporation Plc Consolidated profit and loss account for the year ended 31 October 2002 £000's Year Ended Year Ended 31 Oct 2002 31 Oct 2001 Pre-Exceptional Exceptional Total Total items items Total Transaction 85,503 - 85,503 57,755 Value1 - Continuing 64,435 - 64,435 46,075 - Acquisitions 5,804 - 5,804 - Group Turnover 70,239 70,239 46,075 Cost of sales (60,173) (213) (60,386) (38,687) _______ _____ _______ _______ Gross profit 10,066 (213) 9,853 7,388 _______ _____ _______ _______ Operating Costs Selling and (6,355) (16) (6,371) (5,128) distribution costs Administration costs (3,513) (804) (4,317) (3,491) Operating costs (9,868) (820) (10,688) (8,619) before depreciation and goodwill amortisation EBITDA 198 (1,033) (835) (1,231) Depreciation (1,418) - (1,418) (682) Goodwill (326) - (326) (178) amortisation Total Operating (11,612) (820) (12,432) (9,479) Costs Operating (loss)/ profit - Continuing (1410) (988) (2,398) (2,091) - Acquisitions (136) (45) (181) - GROUP OPERATING LOSS (1,546) (1,033) (2,579) (2,091) Share of associate company profit/(losses) 187 (43) GROUP LOSS ON ORDINARY ACTIVITIES BEFORE INTEREST (2,392) (2,134) AND TAXATION ______ ______ Interest receivable 25 63 Interest payable and similar (666) (497) charges ______ ______ GROUP LOSS ON ORDINARY ACTIVITIES BEFORE (3,033) (2,568) TAXATION Taxation 473 - ______ ______ RETAINED LOSS FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR (2,560) (2,568) ______ ______ LOSS PER SHARE Pence Pence - Basic (2.6) (3.5) ______ ______ - Fully diluted (2.6) (3.5) ______ ______ 1Total transaction value does not represent the group's statutory turnover and comprises amounts relating to the Group and its share of associates Online Travel Corporation Plc Consolidated balance sheet at 31 October 2002 £000's Year ended Year Ended 31 Oct 2002 31 Oct 2001 FIXED ASSETS Intangible assets - Goodwill on consolidation 5,911 2,072 - Purchased goodwill 3,016 3,175 Tangible assets 2,203 1,776 Investment in associated companies 239 147 _______ _______ Total Fixed Assets 11,369 7,170 _______ _______ CURRENT ASSETS Debtors 5,800 4,077 Cash at bank and in hand 4,174 2,156 9,974 6,233 CREDITORS: amounts falling due within one (9,074) (5,901) year NET CURRENT ASSETS 900 332 _______ _______ TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES 12,269 7,502 CREDITORS: amounts falling due after one (880) (500) year _______ _______ NET ASSETS 11,389 7,002 _______ _______ CAPITAL AND RESERVES Called up share capital 1,142 810 Share premium account 15,973 9,749 Capital reserve 1,499 1,499 Shares to be issued 391 - Profit and loss account - deficit (7,616) (5,056) _______ _______ TOTAL EQUITY SHAREHOLDERS' FUNDS 11,389 7,002 _______ _______ Online Travel Corporation Plc Consolidated cashflow £,000 Year Ended Year Ended 31stOctober 31st October 2001 2002 NET CASH INFLOW/(OUTFLOW) FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES - Continuing - pre-exceptional items 457 465 - Continuing - exceptional items (1,033) - - Acquiring (37) 98 _______ _______ (613) 563 DIVIDENDS FROM JOINT VENTURES AND ASSOCIATES Income from associated undertakings 95 - RETURNS ON INVESTMENTS AND SERVICING OF FINANCE Interest received 25 63 Interest and similar charges paid (666) (497) _______ _______ NET CASH OUTFLOW FROM RETURNS ON (546) (434) INVESTMENTS AND SERVICING OF FINANCE AND DIVIDENDS FROM ASSOCIATES _______ _______ (1,159) 129 TAXATION Corporation tax paid - - CAPITAL EXPENDITURE Payments to acquire tangible assets (1,569) (1,245) NET CASH OUTFLOW FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES (1,569) (1,245) _______ _______ (2,728) (1,116) ACQUISITIONS AND DISPOSALS Purchase of subsidiary undertakings (333) (164) Net cash acquired with subsidiary 827 173 undertakings Purchase of associated undertakings - (155) Purchase of businesses - (320) 494 (466) NET CASH OUTFLOW BEFORE FINANCING (2,234) (1,582) FINANCING Issue of ordinary share capital 3,788 402 Loans to associated undertakings (37) - New borrowings 500 - net cash inflow from financing 4,251 402 _______ _______ INCREASE/(DECREASE) IN CASH - Continuing 2,374 (1,332) - Acquisitions (357) 152 _______ _______ 2,017 (1,180) _______ _______ Online Travel Corporation Plc Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 October 2002 1. Basis of Preparation The results incorporated in the preliminary announcement have been prepared on the basis of accounting policies consistent with previous years. The preliminary announcement was approved by the Board of Directors on 21 January 2003. The figures for the year ended 31 October 2002 do not constitute full accounts within the meaning of Section 240 of the Companies Act 1985. The figures for the year ended 31 October 2001 have been extracted from the accounts for 2001, which have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The auditors have reported on those accounts, their reports were unqualified and did not contain statements under section 237 (2) of (3) of the Companies Act 1985. The Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 October 2002 will be sent to shareholders in March 2003. 2. LOSS PER SHARE 2002 2001 (000's) (000's) Attributable profit/(loss) (£) (2,560) (2,568) Average number of ordinary shares in issue 93,671 73,367 Basic loss per share (2.6)p (3.5)p Fully diluted loss per share (2.6)p (3.5)p The fully diluted loss per share takes account of outstanding share options and warrants. The calculation shows that the fully diluted loss per share is lower than the undiluted loss and in accordance with the requirements of FRS 14 this is not considered to be dilutive. 3. RECONCILIATION OF MOVEMENTS IN SHAREHOLDERS' FUNDS Group £'000 Opening shareholders' funds 7,002 New share capital subscribed 332 Share premium 6,224 Shares to be issued 391 Loss for the financial period (2,560) Closing shareholders' funds 11,389 4. RECONCILIATION OF OPERATING LOSS TO NET CASH OUTFLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES 2002 2001 £'000 £'000 Operating loss (2,579) (2,091) Depreciation of tangible fixed assets 1,418 682 Amortisation of goodwill 326 183 Increase/(decrease) in debtors 133 (144) Increase in creditors 89 1,933 NET CASH INFLOW/(OUTFLOW) FROM OPERATING (613) 563 ACTIVITIES 5. RECONCILIATION OF NET CASH FLOW TO MOVEMENT IN £'000 NET CASH Increase in cash in the period 2,017 Net cash at 31 October 2001 2,156 ______ Net cash at 31 October 2002 4,174 ______ 6. Taxation No value is attributed to tax losses except where their recovery is reasonably certain. In the case of Research and Development tax credits, recovery is assessed as being reasonably certain when each of the following conditions has been met: - the relevant expenditure has been incurred at the balance sheet date - the relevant claim has been submitted - the election to surrender the Research and Development losses in return for early payment has been made - there is no reason to believe that the claim would be subject to challenge by the Inland Revenue
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