A late rush is helping travel agent Thomas Cook as sunseekers finally get around to booking holidays following the World Cup.
Cook said today that “recent booking volumes in the ‘lates’ market have improved significantly, indicating a later booking pattern for the summer season than last year”.
But UK holidaymakers are also opting for shorter breaks, pushing average prices down 4% compared with this time last year.
So far the group has sold 85% of its available holidays this summer.
The company, on its knees less than three years ago, posted profits of £33 million for the quarter to June, a big improvement on the £1 million seen last year, helped by a later Easter.
It also marked the eighth quarter in a row of rising profits under chief executive Harriet Green, whose cost-saving plans are ahead of schedule.
Panmure Gordon’s Karl Burns said: “We believe the company is at least on track to meet consensus estimates for the full year.”
