HRG has said the growth of online self-booking of travel has caused revenues to fall at the TMC for the first three months of the financial year.
The travel management company said lower transaction fees were attracting more clients to adopt self-booking methods.
HRG also said “further softness” in the European SME market and strong competitor pricing have all resulted in “downward pressure” on HRG’s top line and earnings.
Ahead of its AGM, HRG has published its first Interim Management Statement for the year ending March 2015 – covering the period from April to July 2014.
The results showed that revenues fell by 6 per cent compared to the previous year and client spend was also down 3 per cent, while client travel activity rose by 5 per cent.
HRG said profitability for the first half of 2014 is likely to be “significantly” lower than in the six months to September 2013.
“At this early stage in the year, the actions we are taking to balance costs should improve the Group’s overall performance in the second half, but it is unlikely the anticipated shortfall in trading in the first half can be recovered in full,” HRG said.
“We therefore now believe that trading for the full year is likely to be below current market expectations.”
In the statement HRG said there is “cost saving opportunities” in the business and will be “accelerating” plans to reduce operating costs in the remainder of the year.
HRG chief executive David Radcliffe said: “It is unlikely that the associated benefits will fully offset the fall in first-half earnings, but we expect the full-year earnings impact to be significantly less than in the first-half.”
“At the same time, we will continue to execute against our strategic priorities designed to grow our business in both our managed travel and technology sectors, and optimise our financial performance through the economic cycles,” said Radcliffe.
Yesterday (July 21) HRG confirmed it is to open a major new travel office in Great Yarmouth, in the UK. Opening in September, it will provide a base for a full range of corporate travel services including its HRG Logistics division which serves companies operating in the marine, offshore and energy and workforce travel sectors.