Thomas Cook confident on future

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There have been fresh signs of the resilience of the travel sector to the downturn as Thomas Cook has reported a 32% rise in full year pre-tax profits.

Profit at Europe's number two travel firm came in at �309.3m ($460m) in the year to 30 September, up from �234.4m the previous year.

The group was created last year from the tie-up of Germany's Arcandor travel unit and the UK's MyTravel.

The group said its target was to make operating profit of �480m in 2009/10.

It has also increased the amount of money it expects to save from the merger by 2010 from �155m to �215m.

It has already sold 24% of its 2009 summer holidays to its UK customers, similar to what happened at the same point last year, although there have been hefty cuts in the number of holiday packages on offer.

Thomas Cook said that total number of package holidays available in the UK had been cut by about 25% over the past two years, which has allowed the company to maintain load factors, a measure of how full their aircraft are.

"Recent consumer research, and the high load factors we are currently experiencing, give us confidence that consumers remain intent on taking their holidays," said Manny Fontenla-Novoa, chief executive of Thomas Cook Group.

"We believe our strong financial position, together with the increased synergy savings and contingency measures we have put in place, will enable us to sustain a market-leading performance throughout a challenging 2009."

Last week, Europe's biggest travel firm, TUI Travel, said its full-year pre-tax profit rose 43% to �319.7m.