Advantage Travel Centres Limited (trading as Advantage Travel Partnership) has today announced its year-end financial results for 2022/23.

• Total global sales turnover across the membership grew to £15.6bn, of this £7.6bn represented sales turnover from UK members (£5.7bn from business travel and £1.9bn leisure). 
• The group reported a net profit before tax for the year of £1,181,020 (2022: £619,815) from continuing operations and net assets at year-end of £7,253,047 (2022: £5,842,283). 
• As a result of the increase in trading, the group’s transactional turnover saw a significant increase to £115,978,204 (2022: £88,007,276)

The company cites that this strong set of results was achieved due to its continued focus on transforming the business post covid. With a clear and ambitious focus on footprint expansion across its various membership models, low bond calls and prudent underwriting expertise drove improvements across its Financial Services division, alongside its goal of driving commercial value for all its stakeholders.

The overall financial results achieved for the year present a milestone achievement for the group, in as much as they represent the highest level of profitably since the appointment of its incumbent CEO Julia Lo Bue-Said, and the group’s ambitious vision for transforming the business. This robust set of results will provide members and business partners of the Partnership with the reassurance and comfort of a strong balance sheet with the ability to continue investing in further services with the ability to leverage further growth and scale going forward.

Commenting on the results, The Advantage Travel Partnership’s Chairman, Steven Esom said: “2023 was a year of significant recovery for the UK Outbound Travel industry.  A year when the industry came back with a vengeance from the pandemic and subsequent period of disruption, rallied and showed resilience like never before. 

Despite a challenging economic backdrop throughout the year and a cost-of-living crises, British consumers demonstrated their passion for travel and prioritised their well-earned holidays above all else. Business Travel also came back strongly during the year, as more and more companies resumed in-person meetings and events, and by the close of the year booking volumes across the sector finished at 92% of those seen in 2019.

As part of our post-covid growth plan, during the year we continued to grow the size of the membership, building on our 25% membership increase. Today, the representation of Advantage’s global network of travel companies spans 83 countries, in all key source markets, and our collective membership turnover exceeds £7.6bn in the UK annually – an increase of 69% over the last year – and £15.6bn across our global network.

This significant increase in group revenue demonstrates not just the commercial success of the business during 2023 but positions us well for our ambitious growth plans for the future as more businesses look to join the group in order to capitalise in its market leading commercial and product services as a one stop business hub.

As always, we remain grateful for the continued support and commitment of our stakeholders who continue to adapt their businesses in-line with the changing customer behaviours and an ever-evolving operating environment.

Looking ahead, Advantage is uniquely positioned to face the future; a financially robust commercial business, continuing to build on its strengths and ensuring a single focus remains to expand its footprint, improve operational efficiencies, and leverage the size of its network to maximise relevant member and partner benefits through a one-stop-business hub approach.

My thanks also to Julia for her strong leadership throughout the year and her continued determination to ensure that Advantage continues to transform itself for the benefit of all its stakeholders and the Advantage team for their outstanding efforts this year. Their commitment to serving our stakeholders never waivers.”

Julia Lo Bue-Said, Chief Executive, The Advantage Travel Partnership, added:

“This financial year delivered a buoyant market for the UK Outbound Travel Industry and this positive backdrop led to an exceptionally strong year for Advantage, both financially and strategically.  And, most importantly, a successful year for many of our stakeholders.   

During the year, at Advantage we diversified our talent pool and made investment in our remote working capabilities in order for us to focus on having the best people in role regardless of where in the UK they are located. And with subject matter experts now in place across our geographical workforce, we are confident that we really do have the best talent in the business to support our diverse business, operating across multiple disciplines.

During the financial year, we also strengthened our Global Business Travel division, reinforcing our position as the leading consortium for business travel in the UK with 72% of the BTN Europe’s Top TMCs and The Advantage Global Network named as the third largest TMC network in Europe. In addition, through building our commercial product portfolio, we grew the number of airline partners we feature within the Advantage Air Programme, bringing greater benefits to our members operating under our business travel model.

The on-going situations in the Ukraine, Israel and Palestine look unlikely to be resolved anytime soon, and whilst inflation is under control, consumer spending is likely to remain under pressure. However, on a positive note, many of the indicators show that holidays and travel remain of vital importance to people and business, so we can look forward with a degree of cautious optimism.

As our business further advances, our strong financial performance provides the catalyst for embarking on strategic options to further future proof the organisation. We will achieve this through continuing to evolve our vision with pace, passion and purpose; to drive a one-stop business hub concept that is relevant for all business needs through offering superior products across the various sectors our members operate within, as well as diversification of our portfolio within our Financial Services division. Together with expertise and service levels for a range of different business types​, as well as speaking as a voice of authority for the sector.

Our ESG work ensures we continue to make progress as a business and also support our members with their goals in this crucial area. We have now established an ESG member steering group to focus on this important topic and this forum, together with all our membership steering groups, help us remain laser-focused on what is important to members and drive progress in areas that deliver greater value for their businesses. 

Our membership community is the very lifeblood of Advantage, and we truly value the loyalty that members show us.  It’s the relationships that we have across our group that drives us as a business to remain at the forefront of innovation and service delivery.

As always, my heartfelt thanks go to my team at Advantage, who have once again delivered over and above this year.  With a team that has now reached close to 100 employees, our people play an integral role in our success. It’s their energy, dedication and range of skills and experience that differentiates us in the highly competitive market in which we operate within the Partnership; as the UK’s pre-eminent business network representing travel agents and travel management companies.”