Thomas Cook (India) Limited has announced its financial results for the year ended March 31, 2020.
Here’s a detailed highlights of the financial results:
- The Group witnessed the growing impact of COVID-19 across the global network as early as January 2020 for the Hong Kong business, February for Thomas Cook & SOTC & March for the inbound business in TCI. Despite this, Consolidated Revenue from operations grew 3% to Rs. 68.3 Bn. from Rs. 66.0 Bn.
- Standalone PBT stood at Rs. 327 Mn. in FY20 against Rs. 345 Mn. in FY19. Rs. 327 Mn. of FY20 excludes a non-cash charge of Rs. 295 Mn. on account of reduction in the value of shares in Quess Corp Ltd. (mark to market) and a one-time cost of Rs. 250 Mn. on account of stamp duty payable pursuant to the Composite Scheme of arrangement and amalgamation.
- Focus on cash conservation and cost optimization across all aspects of business to maintain short-term liquidity & balance sheet strength given the uncertain environment
- The cost savings resulting from these initiatives across India businesses are estimated at Rs. 3 Bn., representing approximately 37% of costs for the calendar year. The Board also decided not to pay a dividend this year with a view to conserve cash, given the extraordinary business challenges
- The Foreign Exchange business classified as an essential service restarted operations in May & turned positive in the same month. The business is expected to grow its bottom line in the coming months
- As of June 17th, Thomas Cook and SOTC have reopened 157 retail travel outlets across 77 cities. A wide range of domestic offerings were launched on June 1st, that have resulted in a steady enquiry funnel and some early confirmed bookings. Demand is expected to pick up going forward
- Thomas Cook & SOTC Assured – Safe Travel Program launched, in association with Apollo Clinics, to ensure safety of travellers at every stage
- Technology upgraded with a focus on contactless, scalable, secure solutions to ensure a seamless customer experience across all lines of business.
Other updates:
- The Retail travel businesses of Thomas Cook & SOTC launched a wide range of domestic products to tap into the pent up demand for travel and in line with reopening of domestic skies including: Workations, Wellness, Staycations, Experiential Stays, Pilgrimage Tours & Affordable Luxury
- Retail Foreign Exchange counters & Wholesale Forex business restarted in May 2020, while Virtual Branches were activated to extend reach for contactless services and to serve customers anywhere
- MICE businesses across Thomas Cook & SOTC reimagined completely – with virtual incentive platforms, advanced health & safety measures & new age technologies
- Business Travel process redeployed as an off-site model with bots for invoicing, refunds, streamlined processes & automated credit flow on a single platform
- The company partnered the Canadian High Commission to repatriate over 8030 Canadian citizens across 25 flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Amritsar and Ahmedabad
- The e-commerce business adapted to the new norm via a virtual agent network for contactless customer interactions across Holidays, Forex and Visa – sales & service
- To ensure business continuity, technology solutions were implemented to ensure a smooth transition to the Work-From-Home (WFH) model for staff
- The company has taken several measures adapting to the new normal by re-imagining businesses and capabilities with a primary focus on ensuring health and safety at every stage.
Vacation ownership & resorts business (Sterling Holiday Resorts Limited) FY20:
- Income from Operations for FY20 grew from Rs. 2,611 Mn. to Rs. 2,672 Mn.
- Losses at EBIT level have reduced significantly from 445 Mn. in FY19 to 283 Mn. in FY20
- Occupancy rate was higher by 1.3% in FY20 against FY19. The ARR has held at Rs. 4,392
Innovation and new products-services:
- TCIL entered into a strategic long term agreement with Experience Hub, the trade and promotion arm of Yas Island-Abu Dhabi, one of the world’s fastest growing leisure and entertainment destinations
- TCIL and SOTC launched Holiday Plus enabling customers book land packages bundled with real time flight inventory
- TCIL launched Smart Weekends 2020, micro-cations across domestic & international destinations; also Bike Trips across spectacular routes within India and Bhutan
- TCIL’s unique #BingeOnBharat campaign offered Indians the benefit of 15 domestic holidays in 2020 at a truly affordable price of Rs 1.5 lakhs per person
India Network expansion:
TCIL opened a total of 44 new outlets in FY 2020: 3 owned branches and 32 franchise outlets for its holiday businesses; 2 foreign exchange implants/extension counters and 6 new Forex outlets at Bengaluru Airport and 1 at Delhi Airport. This network expansion extends the company’s visibility across metros like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad; equally across Regional India’s Tier II & III source markets like Aurangabad, Ambala, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Nashik and Salem, among others.
Speaking on the results and the “Reimagine Program”, Madhavan Menon – Chairman & Managing Director of Thomas Cook (India) Limited said “The Global pandemic which the world continues to deal with over the past few months has challenged all of us – especially, those of us in the travel sector. Our immediate focus obviously has been on cost optimization & cash conservation across various aspects of business. Across Thomas Cook and SOTC, we also invested the last two months to completely reimagine and re-engineer every business and process through integration and the enhanced use of technology. We will continue to focus on safety & hygiene for customers and employees using contactless, technology driven systems and processes across all distribution and delivery channels.”
