Kuoni in the red as sales slump

SWISS-OWNED travel giant Kuoni crashed into the red in the first half of the year as the longed-for recovery in leisure travel failed to appear. Following the collapse of business in the aftermath of 11 September, bookings slowly crept up, but they stabilised in May.

Overall, sales fell by 15.8% to Swfr1.659bn (£724.5m) with significant declines in every market apart from the smallest division, business travel.

Turnover was down 31.3% in the European market outside Switzerland, down by 20.1% in Scandinavia and 20.3% in the UK and North America.

Despite a decline in operating costs, losses before interest, tax and amortisation of goodwill deepened from Swfr2.5m last year to Swfr11.8m this year.

Although Kuoni reported sales were still steady at the end of July, it predicted full-year sales would be down by 5% and said the final results 'will fall short of satisfactory levels'.