Over-50s specialist Saga says cruise and travel revenues are continuing to boost the group’s revenue growth.

In a trading update covering 1 August 2022 to 23 January 2023, Saga Group said revenue is expected to be between 40% and 50% ahead of last year, driven by the recovery in the cruise and travel industry following the COVID crisis. 

Strong sales through its travel and cruise divisions mean Saga Group is on track to report underlying pre-tax profits of between £20 million and £30 million, in line with previous guidance.

Saga said its Ocean Cruise business achieved strong load factors of 84% for the second half of 2022/23, with prices up.  

However, despite a tenfold increase in revenue, Saga’s travel business is expected to report a small underlying loss, also in line with previous guidance, due to marketing and administrative expenses.

Touring bookings for the 2023/24 year are strong, with increased demand for long-haul destinations while incoming call volumes over the first three weeks of January are ahead of pre-pandemic levels, Saga reported.

In the trading update, Saga said: “Following the successful relaunch of our Travel business earlier in the year, we continued to expand the range of products that we offer our customers, including our new Egyptian tours on the Nile and a further two private jet tour departures in 2023/24, following the bookings success of our first tour, along with our 2024/25 programme, which launches in late February.

“As a result, we have observed exceptionally high levels of customer calls in the first three weeks of January, with volumes higher than those observed prior to the pandemic.

“Ahead of the full brand marketing launch, planned for February 2023, our ‘Tailor-Made by Saga’ proposition has been enhanced through 15 new worldwide destinations, self-drive and motorhome holidays, and private touring options across south-east Asia.

“For the 2022/23 financial year, revenue is expected to increase tenfold when compared with 2021/22 however, after allowing for marketing and administrative expenses, we expect to report a small loss before tax in line with previous guidance and before returning to profit in 2023/24.

“In support of this, at 22 January 2023, booked revenue for 2023/24 was £110m which is 13% ahead of the same point last year.”