On the Beach profits tick ahead amidst continued Brexit uncertainties

Travel retailer On the Beach saw gross profits move ahead slightly in the first six months of its trading year, despite continuing uncertainties around Brexit.

Gross profits increased just 5% year-on-year to £47.5m despite the group booking a 41% jump in revenues to £63.5m.

On the Beach saw revenues improve 1% at onthebeach.co.uk and sunshnine.co.uk, but a 56% decrease in international revenues to just £400,000 as the shuttering of Primera in early October hurt its bottom line.

Despite the challenges, the Greater Manchester-based firm upped its interim dividend by 18% to 1.3p and turned in 16% stronger earnings per share of 9.6p.

Chief executive Simon Cooper said: "This performance has been delivered against a soft background market, particularly in the important first calendar quarter, when uncertainties regarding Brexit impacted consumer appetite for booking holidays.

"Looking forward, we continue to remain cautious of the consumer environment until a Brexit resolution is found, but the resilient and flexible nature of our business model allows us to focus on profitable growth and gives us confidence in the group's outlook."

As of 0830 BST, On the Beach shares had slipped 2.39% to 440.24p.