- Thomas Cook India Group declares a Profit Before Tax of Rs 60.74 Bn for Q4 2017-18 at a consolidated level. This includes a non-cash one-time accounting gain of Rs 58.25 Bn upon reclassification of Quess Corp. Ltd. from subsidiary to associate company.
- Thomas Cook India declares a Profit Before Tax of Rs 5.38 Bn for FY 2017-18 at a standalone basis. This includes a net gain of Rs 5.35 Bn largely arising out of the stake sale of 5.42% in Quess Corp. Ltd.
- Quess Corp Ltd. has been de-consolidated effective March 1, 2018. Eleven months results have been consolidated as a subsidiary and for the month of March 2018, only a profit share has been added as an associate.
- The Board of Thomas Cook India, pursuant to a composite scheme of arrangement and amalgamation, decided on April 23, 2018 to distribute its shareholding in Quess on a proportionate basis to its shareholders in a ratio of 1889:10000 (subject to regulatory approvals).
- The EBIT of Travel Businesses registered a growth of 33% for FY 2017-18 on a comparable basis.
*The Results at both a consolidated and standalone basis will not be completely comparable YoY due to the significant one-time non-cash gain
Mumbai, May 29, 2018: Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. (TCIL), India’s leading integrated travel and travel related financial services company, today announced its financial results for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2018 with a strong performance across its various lines of travel businesses.
Q4 2017-18:
Group Consolidated:
- TCIL declares a Profit Before Tax of Rs. 58.27 Bn for Q4 2017-18 at a consolidated level.
- TCIL’s investment in Quess Corp. has been reclassified to that of an associate company w.e.f. March 1, 2018 post Board approval. As per the accounting standards, TCIL’s shareholding in Quess has been recorded at fair value, resulting in a non‐cash one-time accounting gain of Rs. 58.25 Bn.
- Consequently, Quess Corp. Financials have been consolidated for 11 months upto February 28, 2018.
- Excluding the one-time gain and on a comparable basis, PBT grew by 9% in Q4 2017-18 from Q4 2016-17.
TCIL Standalone:
- The standalone revenue of TCIL for Q4 increased by 16% from Rs. 2,985 Mn to Rs. 3,450 Mn
- Q4 is a low-season and an investment quarter for travel businesses where the company incurs selling and distribution costs; the benefits of the same accrue in subsequent quarters.
- Despite this, the standalone loss for Q4 has reduced from Rs. (235 Mn) to Rs. (141 Mn).
- Proceeds of the OFS sale have helped reduce finance costs for the business by 22% and improve investment income by Rs. 60 Mn during the quarter.
FY 2017-18:
Group Consolidated:
- Excluding the one-time gain and on a comparable basis, the PBT grew by 45% in FY 2017-18 from FY 2016-17.
TCIL Standalone:
- TCIL posted a revenue growth of 11% from Rs.17.38 Bn to Rs. 19.38 Bn
- The PBT of Rs 5.38 Bn for 2017-18 included a net gain of Rs 5.35 Bn, largely arising out of the stake sale of 5.42% in Quess Corp. Ltd. in November 2017.
- Excluding the one-time net gain, the profitability grew from a loss of Rs (54 Mn) in 2016-17 to PBT of Rs 41 mn in FY17-18.
- Proceeds of the OFS sale have helped reduce finance costs for the business by 14% and improve investment income by Rs. 90 mn during the year.
Dividend to shareholders:
The Board has recommended a dividend @ 37.50% (i.e. 37.5 paise per equity share of Re. 1 each) for the financial year ended March 31, 2018
Corporate Restructuring:
The Board of Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. at its meeting held on April 23, 2018 had approved (subject to regulatory approvals) a corporate restructuring exercise by way of a composite scheme of arrangement and amalgamation, aimed at simplifying the structure and holdings, streamlining businesses and resources, ensuring focussed management, consolidating real estate and also various brands acquired through inorganic growth and eliminating cross holdings. Restructuring also involves consolidating the human resource services business into Quess Corp. Ltd. Pursuant to the composite scheme, Thomas Cook India shareholders will be the beneficiaries of Quess Shares. This exercise is expected to conclude approximately in 10-12 months.
Highlights of segment performance:
Financial Services
- Financial services revenues fell by 6% YoY (10% QoQ), largely as a result of the positive impact of demonetization on volumes and margins in Q4 FY 2017 that skewed wholesale performance for the period.
- Retail volume grew by 6% YoY (3% QoQ)
- The Thomas Cook Borderless Prepaid Card sales increased by 13% YoY (13% QoQ) from FY 17-18.
Travel & Related Services
- The quarter which ended March 31, 2018 also includes revenues of the Kuoni Global Destination Management (DMS) units, TC Forex and TC Travel units which were acquired during 2017.
- Inbound business registered a growth of 17% YoY (36% QoQ) in operating revenues due to better margin management.
- The Company’s focus on sales analytics has resulted in a strong forward booking position- up by 27%.
- The EBIT of Travel Businesses registered a growth of 33% for FY 2017-18 on a comparable basis.
Vacation ownership & resorts business (Sterling Holiday Resorts Limited)
- Sterling Holidays achieved a positive EBITDA of Rs.54 Mn in the current year as compared to a loss of Rs.130 Mn last year.
- Average Room Rent (ARR) has grown by 13% over last year
Material events & outlook:
- Repayment of borrowings and efficient use of the proceeds is expected to contribute approximately Rs. 360 Mn to TCIL’s bottom-line annually.
- TCIL remains open to suitable and attractive M&A opportunities.
- Series of customer centricity measures such as the launch of a technology platform for customized holidays, customer self-service mobile app, enhanced user interface and new features for Thomascook.in, etc. have been launched during the quarter.
- TCIL opened a total of 51 new outlets in FY 2017-18: 18 owned branches and 23 franchise Gold Circle Partner outlets; also 9 Foreign Exchange airport counters at Varanasi, Madurai, Bhubaneswar and Guwahati. This network expansion extends the company’s visibility across both metros/mini metros like Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata; equally across Regional India’s Tier II & III source markets like Thrissur, Solapur, Jodhpur, Ranchi, Guwahati.
Management comments:
Commenting on the results, Mr. Madhavan Menon, Group Chairman and Managing Director, said:
“Our strategic focus for the period was on technology- both business and customer facing. This, coupled with our sales analytics initiative, has ensured better productivity and helped build a robust forward booking position. The strong results from our travel businesses (despite the GST rollout impact), coupled with positive performances by some of our recent acquisitions, have set us up well for the year.”
He continued “We are leveraging the income of Rs 5.35 Bn from our 5.42% stake sale in Quess, to reduce our borrowing costs and improve working capital management; as also to invest in our core businesses for long term growth.”