Operational & Financial Highlights
- While full year net revenue of €80.7m declined 2% (2018: -5%), H2 net revenue of €41.8m increased 6% (H1 2019: -9%)
- Full year Hostelworld brand net bookings declined by 5% (2018: -1%), with a return to net bookings volume growth during H2 2019 -1% (H1 2019: -8%), driven by Q4 2019 +1%
- Average Net Booking Value of (“ABV”) €11.97 (2018: €11.64), a 3% increase over 2018
- Cancellations of €9.3m (2018: €5.5m) in-line with expectations, year-over-year increase reflects full year impact of July 2018 global roll-out
- Operating costs were flat compared to 2018, (excluding impact of exceptional costs and IFRS 16), despite our investment in “Roadmap for Growth” initiatives and having delivered a return to growth in the latter part of H2 2019
- Marketing costs increased to 41% of net revenue (excluding deferred revenue), (2018: 37%) driven by the full year impact of cancellations in 2019, CPC inflation and increased paid channel investment in H2 2019 2
- Adjusted EBITDA of €20.5m (2018: €22.5m) in-line with market expectations, down 9% on 2018 and 11% on a constant currency basis • Return on Capital Employed of 11% (2018: 13%)
- Adjusted Earnings per Share of 15.5 € cent (2018: 18.2 € cent)
- Adjusted cash conversion of 53% (2018: 101%) and free cash flow of €10.9m (2018: €22.8m), impacted by one-off timing of cash receipts and increased investment spend. Adjusting for these one-off items, and the impact of the deferral of the revenue related to free cancellation bookings, normalised cash of 64% (2018: 90%)
- Proposed final dividend of 2.1 € cent per share (2018: 9.0 € cent), full year dividend 6.3 € cent per share (2018: 13.8 € cent per share) and a total distribution of 41% of Adjusted PAT, in line with the updated Group dividend policy
TJ Kelly
Chief Financial Officer
04 March 2020
To read full report – click here
