Tui’s German parent restores its dividend as cost cutting pays off
GERMAN travel group Tui AG, which owns a majority stake in Tui Travel, yesterday vowed to pay its first dividend since 2007 after posting a surprise profit.
The firm said it made a €4.3m (£3.6m) profit in the year to the end of September, beating forecasts of a small loss, while underlying earnings rose two per cent to €762m. Turnover rose from €18.3bn to €18.5bn.
Boss Friedrich Joussen said his cost-cutting measures were starting to deliver, though writedowns and job cuts had cost €57m in the year.
The German firm’s hotels arm posted flat turnover of €826m, while its cruises business enjoyed a 13 per cent jump in revenues to €261m.
Tui AG held merger talks with Tui Travel earlier this year but decided against a deal. It holds a 54.5 per cent stake in the London-listed firm, which last week said profits were up 13 per cent.
“Our good operating results and virtually debt-free balance sheet enable us to pay a dividend to our shareholders earlier than promised,” said Joussen in a statement.
The dividend announcement helped push Tui AG’s shares up 3.82 per cent to €11.68.