City briefs: Jet2 and Vp
Leeds-headquartered leisure travel group, Jet2, expects to report a loss before foreign exchange revaluation and tax of between £378m and £383m for the year ended 31 March 2022.
The business says passengers numbers increased significantly in October and November 2021, following the dropping of the UK Government Covid traffic light system in early October 2021.
However, the improving situation was hit in December 2021 and January 2022 by the new Omicron Covid variant and re-impositions of international travel restrictions, both of which harmed customer confidence.
Jet2 notes relaxation of UK travel restrictions in early 2022 has since resulted in its bookings increasing materially with numbers “approaching seasonal norms” as confidence in travelling internationally rallies.
It adds that for the year ending 31 March 2023, on sale seat capacity for summer 2022 is approximately 14% higher than summer 2019 and bookings are encouraging.
The group’s trading update states: “We have worked hard to plan recovery for summer 2022, investing well ahead of the season to ensure we have adequate resources to operate with our normal levels of customer care.
“We also self-handle at many of our key bases and are therefore not reliant on third parties for these aspects of our operations.
“With our strong ‘Own Cash’ balance as at 31 March 2022 of £1.08bn, we are well placed to respond now that the leisure travel market has fully re-opened.”
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Equipment rental specialist, Vp, is optimistic about its prospects, thanks to its core markets of infrastructure, construction and housebuilding generating increasing demand.
Publishing a trading update today for the period since its interim results were issued on 30 November 2021, the Harrogate-headquartered business adds it expects to report results for the full year ahead of Board expectations.
Neil Stothard, chief executive, said: “Since our interim results in November, the Group has seen increased demand from our core markets as Covid restrictions have eased.
“Additionally, we have made excellent progress with both our technology offering and with the introduction of more environmentally friendly equipment solutions for our customers.
“We look ahead with optimism, confident we will continue to deliver excellent value growth for our shareholders.”
Investment in technology has been a key feature of the period for Vp. The business recently launched the latest version of its online trading platform for Brandon Hire Station, together with a progressive web app solution to facilitate mobile rental solutions for customers.
Trading in its UK division has been “positive”, with rising demand from HS2, housebuilding, transmission projects and RMI construction work.
Vp’s trading update states: “We have also seen an encouraging uplift in new civil engineering projects in the latter part of our financial year.
“Supply chain delays remain under control and whilst inflationary pressures persist we have continued to successfully balance the impact of these increased costs.
“On 31 March the Group acquired the in-house plant and tools fleet of Watkin Jones plc and we have entered into a five-year supply agreement to provide their equipment rental needs.”
