Novaturas Group, the leader in the Baltic tourism market, recorded solid growth in the first quarter of this year, one of the best quarters in the company’s history. The diversified and broadest destination programme in the region as well as the efficient cost management allow to update the financial forecast for 2023. The expected EBITDA of EUR 3–5 million, announced at the beginning of the year, has been adjusted to a forecast of EUR 4–6 million.
In the first quarter, the company generated revenues of EUR 39.6 million, which is 35% up compared to the same period last year. The total number of travellers served was 38.1 thousand, which is an increase of 4.6% compared to 2022. The company’s EBITDA was positive at EUR 2.6 million, compared to a negative EBITDA of EUR -96 thousand in the first quarter of last year.
“The solid first quarter results provide a sound basis for forecasting further results. We have now sold more than 56% of this year’s total programme and early bookings for the winter season are almost triple last year’s level. In view of the success of the first three months, we have revised and improved the Group’s annual financial forecast. We expect EBITDA of EUR 4–6 million and net profit of EUR 2–4 million. We plan to deliver this increase by offering our customers a balanced programme, a wide range of destinations and by continuing to manage costs efficiently, as we have done in the first quarter,” says Vitalij Rakovski, CEO of Novaturas Group.
Competitive advantage – a diversified programme and sales channels
The company shares that the success of the first quarter was also due to its timely responsiveness to the real needs of travellers.
“One of our Group’s greatest strengths is the diversification of travel destinations. This is also an important competitive advantage, as other players on the market as well as new entrants tend to offer proven tourism products, which are also the most competitive. Meanwhile, we update our programme according to demand trends, offer new destinations, and can therefore safely say that we contribute to shaping the travel habits of travellers in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, instead of just meeting their needs. In this way, we are not only improving the company’s profitability, but also substantially expanding the opportunities to explore new or unvisited destinations,” comments Mr. Rakovski.
In the first quarter of this year, the company also recorded increased sales in its e-commerce channel. The number of unique visitors to Novaturas website was over 900 thousand in the first quarter of last year, and over 1.1 million in the same period this year. This means that the number of visitors this year is about 26% higher. The number of sales is up by over 16% compared to the same period last year. In addition, the company will soon present an updated website, which will offer a range of new functionalities and will make it even easier and faster for customers to buy travel.
In April, the company launched early bookings for the next winter season and in May it announced the full programme. New destinations Jordan and Vietnam were introduced, and Novaturas added Salzburg in Austria to its popular ski destinations in Italy and France. In response to the growing interest of travellers in exotic countries, the company has expanded its range of places and destinations by offering 12 long-haul countries.
Travellers from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia can choose from a total of 22 different destinations in 19 countries for the next winter season. The growing trend of early holiday planning provides reassurance, with the company anticipating at least a 15% increase in the number of places on offer in its winter early bookings programme.
New operational strategy
This spring, Novaturas Group presented its new operational strategy for 2023–2025 and set ambitious goals to strengthen its leadership in the region. The company will focus on four key areas: technological advancement, improving traveller experience and choice, more sustainable travel and employee engagement.
The new strategy outlines priorities to create more value for travellers, employees, partners and shareholders.
The company is investing in a growing trend – workations
One of the most outstanding achievements was the implementation of the largest group workation in the history of Lithuanian tourism by the Tesonet accelerator (Nord Security, Oxylabs, Surfshark, CyberCare) in partnership with tour operators AirGuru and Novaturas in April. Novaturas charter flights carried almost 2 500 passengers.
Risk management is also a priority
Following the best practices of leading airlines, Novaturas Group has now hedged the majority of its total summer programme sales with financial derivatives against aviation fuel price and currency fluctuations. In this way, the company not only aims to ensure sustainable financial results, but also to minimise the risks for its customers to the maximum extent.
In addition, the company has consolidated some of its flights with other market players, following the significant increase in the offering of Egypt destinations in the first quarter. This helped to manage the risk of filling seats and resulted in good profitability.
The aim is to proactively manage other potential risks during the year. The third quarter is traditionally a period of lower activity in the tourism industry and the company plans to consolidate some flights with other market players in order to achieve sustainable results.
“Novaturas” group financials for Q1 2023:
| Q1 2023 | Q1 2022 | Q1 2021 | |
| Revenue | 39 602 | 29 254 | 5 571 |
| Gross profit | 6 244 | 2 746 | 1 617 |
| EBITDA | 2 641 | -96 | 615 |
| Net profit (loss) | 2 260 | -505 | 191 |
About the company
Novaturas Group is the largest tour operator in the Baltic States, offering summer and winter package holidays by plane to more than 30 destinations worldwide and more than 100 tours.