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Rise in business travel lifts Hogg Robinson

By This Is Money
Updated: 07:30 EDT, 30 November 2010

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Corporate travel specialist Hogg Robinson raised its profit hopes for the full year after witnessing an emerging recovery in the industry.

Movin' up: Trade started to improve in the Asia-Pacific region, followed by North America and Europe

The Basingstoke-based firm, which provides business travel services to clients worldwide including Rolls-Royce, Volkswagen and GlaxoSmithKline, said spending and bookings were both up 18% in the six months to September 30.

Hogg Robinson - whose shares are up 0.25p (1.4%) to 35.2p - had to tighten its belt after the recession bore down on businesses and hit corporate travel.

But the company has experienced a turnaround in the market in the first half of the current financial year and tripled its pre-tax profits to £13.3m.

In addition, the firm said disruption caused by the volcanic ash cloud and British Airways strikes actually generated more work for its business as it managed contingency plans to offset the disturbance to travel.

Hogg said trade first started to improve in the Asia-Pacific region and this was followed by North America and Europe.

The company said it had seen the strongest growth in revenues from clients in the pharmaceuticals and manufacturing sectors, while there has been a slight decline in Government contracts.

Hogg said it won more business than it lost in the first half, securing new clients such as insurance giant Aviva and accountants Grant Thornton.

The company also said working with third-party booking sites had helped it to deal with the more cost-conscious client base that emerged from the recession.

David Radcliffe, chief executive of Hogg Robinson, said: 'Uncertainty about the global economy will continue but we are encouraged by the current signs of recovery in corporate travel and the board believes that we will be slightly ahead of our previous expectations.'

Looking ahead, Mr Radcliffe said the momentum in the first half is likely to continue and the company had taken on new staff to maintain service levels.

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