Saga has announced its ocean and river cruise businesses have had an ‘exceptional’ start to the year, but warned its insurance sector remains challenging.
The over-50s provider of holidays and products said its booked load factors for cruise for the first four months of its financial year (1 February to 24 June 2024) were ahead of the same period last year, at 83% for its ocean cruises and 78% for river cruises.
Across travel as a whole, bookings were up 14% compared to this period in 2023.
In a statement Saga said market conditions for insurance remain ‘challenging’, but was taking action to stabilise its broking business.
Additionally the group said it is looking at ‘partnership opportunities’ between ocean cruise and insurance to support its growth plans, but no further details were given.
Group Chief Executive Officer Mike Hazell said: “Saga has made a good start to the new financial year. Our Ocean Cruise business has traded exceptionally well and, in Insurance, we have continued to take actions within a market which remains challenging. Looking ahead, we are focused on driving sustainable business growth in a capital-light way, while growing our customer base and deepening our connections with those customers.”
In April Saga reported it had more than doubled its underlying profit year-on-year for the year ended 31 January 2024, as well as confirming ocean and river cruise had returned to profit.
Saga’s next interim results for the six months ending 31 July 2024 will be announced on 2 October.