(new: structure, voting results

HANNOVER (dpa-AFX) - The world's largest travel group Tui is on course for business as it was before the corona pandemic thanks to strong demand for vacations. Travel bookings for winter and summer are eight percent higher than a year ago, Tui announced ahead of the Annual General Meeting in Hanover on Tuesday. For the current financial year 2023/24 (until the end of September), CEO Sebastian Ebel continues to expect record profits in day-to-day business. However, CFO Mathias Kiep did not want to commit himself as to whether more guests are really traveling with Tui this time than before the Corona crisis.

On the stock exchange, the Hanover-based travel group wants to concentrate on trading in Frankfurt in the future. The Group plans to leave the London Stock Exchange, previously the main trading venue for Tui shares, in June. At the virtual Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, the shareholders approved the plan with 98.35 percent of the votes. The main stock exchange will then be Frankfurt instead of London. This should also enable Tui to return to the MDax, the German index for medium-sized companies. "We would expect to be included in the MDax in June," said Kiep. There was encouragement from shareholder representatives. "The Tui share is coming home again," said Marc Tüngler, Managing Director of the Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz (DSW). "This is a sign of a return to normality."

London withdrawal to help with EU flight rights

The move should also help the Group to further secure the conditions for air traffic rights in the EU after Brexit, according to the statement. This is because the EU requires that an airline such as Tuifly, which flies within the EU, is majority-owned and controlled by owners from the EU. There have been no problems here so far, even after the UK's exit from the EU, emphasized CEO Ebel. "We have enough European shareholders today, even without the United Kingdom." This will be reinforced by a withdrawal from London, where more international investors traditionally buy. The Tui Group had moved the main listing of its share to London in 2014 in the course of the merger with its former subsidiary Tui Travel and had thus left the MDax.

In the past quarter from October to December, six percent more guests traveled with Tui. And they also spent more money on average on their vacation than a year earlier. Turnover grew by 15 percent year-on-year to 4.3 billion euros. The net loss attributable to shareholders was roughly halved to just under 123 million euros. Travel companies are usually in the red in winter. They make their profits in the peak travel season in summer.

Customers do not save on vacations

However, according to the management, things are looking good. This is because customers have not only booked eight percent more trips with Tui for winter and summer than a year ago. According to figures to date, they are also spending an average of four percent more. "We are expecting a strong season for the summer," said Kiep. Despite the weakening economy, there is no sign of an end to the desire to travel in Germany either, said Kiep. "Holiday travel is still a high priority for our customers. This is more stable than we would have thought."

If business continues to grow at this rate, Tui is heading for the same level of customer numbers as in 2019, said CFO Kiep. In the previous financial year, the Group had around 19 million guests, 5.6 million of whom came from Germany, well below the 20.5 million recorded before the crisis. The slump in business as a result of the pandemic had plunged Tui into an existential crisis in 2020. The German government rescued the company from ruin with billions in aid.

Tui now sees itself on the upswing again. In the current financial year to the end of September, Ebel and Kiep want to increase operating profit before special items by at least a quarter. After 977 million in the previous year, Tui would thus achieve a record operating result of 1.2 billion euros./fjo/stw/DP/ngu