Apollo positioning for the road to recovery
Apollo Tourism has touted an uptick in demand for motorhome sales but flagged a hit to its rentals business.
Apollo Tourism has touted an uptick in demand for motorhome sales but flagged a hit to its rentals business, which the company said is likely to continue until international borders reopen.
Apollo reported a statutory after tax loss of $61.2m on Monday compared to a $4.67m profit a year ago, partly due to the impact of the coronavirus crisis which resulted in a non-cash impairment charge of $38.9m and the loss on the sale of the US fleet of $12.5m.
“The impact of the coronavirus and its associated government restrictions has been devastating for the global tourism industry,” chief executive Luke Trouchet said.
“Apollo has reacted quickly and implemented initiatives to mitigate the impact on the business and ensure that Apollo will be in a position to benefit when tourism activity recovers.”
Shares in Apollo fell 7 per cent by the close on Monday to 26.5c.
The company, which sells and leases a range of RVs in Australia, New Zealand, North America and Europe, said that while vehicle sales had recovered to pre-COVID levels, rental bookings across all of its markets had remained significantly below the prior year. Still, revenue in the first few weeks of the new financial year had been increasing.
“As domestic travel re-emerges, followed by international travel in time, Apollo is ideally placed to service guests looking for ‘COVID-19 safe’ ways to explore the great outdoors with family and friends,” Mr Trouchet said.
“We expect the recent increase in retail RV sales to continue as people seek more freedom and control over their holiday choices.
“With limited options for consumer travel related discretionary spend, and many people finding themselves with more spare time than previously, an RV holiday is becoming an increasingly attractive option.”
Apollo Tourism did not declare a final dividend, in line with last year.
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