Over-50s travel and insurance group Saga has returned to profit after being buoyed by more older people booking holidays and cruise trips.
Shares in the business, which counts millions of people over the age of 50 as its customers, rose as a result.
It reported a pre-tax profit of £3.7 million for the six months to the end of July, up from a loss of £116.9 million the same period a year ago.
The company said it had been a good six months for its travel business, with the number of passengers on its group tours and hotel-stay holidays rising by 13% year on year.
It also hailed steady demand for its ocean and river cruises, which offer all-inclusive stays on luxury ships and can include a chauffeur to pick up passengers from their homes.
Repeat customers made up about two thirds of its total bookings for ocean cruises over the first half of the year, while the load factor – which is the proportion of rooms filled on cruises – rise to 92%.
Saga said it was expecting the profitability of its travel arm to further improve over the second half of 2025, driven by higher passenger numbers.
Meanwhile, the London-listed company said its insurance business had experienced a “difficult few years, impacted by a highly competitive market, industry-wide inflation and cost pressures that limited our ability to fully respond to these challenges”.
Motor policy sales increased by 9% year on year, while the number of home insurance sales dropped by 19%, the company revealed.
It had a total of 1.2 million policies in place at the end of July – a 10th lower than the same point last year.
It recently sold its underwriting business to Belgian firm Ageas and agreed a 20-year partnership for the remaining motor and home insurance arm, helping Saga to reduce its debt burden.
Saga said the deal was a “major step in transforming our insurance operations” and the new tie-up, due to be launched later this year, will give the division a boost.
Chief executive Mike Hazell said: “Our travel business has performed particularly strongly.
“Demand for our exceptional ocean and river cruise holidays continued to grow and we have seen a material increase in the number of customers enjoying our hotel and touring holidays.
“In July, we launched our newest river cruise ship, Spirit of the Moselle, which is already trading well and proving to be very popular with our customers – a clear demonstration of the growth opportunities we have in river cruising.”
Shares in Saga were up by about 4% on Wednesday morning.
