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Jim
Crew
Managing Director of the Camping
Division
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camping
The Camping Division is still by some measure, the largest business within Holidaybreak. 2002 turnover represented 50% of total sales whilst operating profits were 65% of the total for the Group. The principal activity of the Division is the provision of holidays in pre-sited mobilehomes and tents on high quality camp-sites in Europe.
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- Original and largest part of the Group - 50% of turnover
- Two market leading brands – Eurocamp and Keycamp plus
EuroSites, Perfect Places (self - catering) and Eurocamp
Independent (camp - site booking service)
- Pre - sited mobile-homes and tents on quality camp - sites in France, Italy and seven other European countries – flexible contracts
- Courier and children’s activity service
- Tailor made packages - any day to any day
- Self - drive holidays (ferry inclusive from UK, fly drive
an increasing element)
- Mainly direct sell but some retail agent sales. Internet increasingly important
- Customers from nine countries (mainly UK, Germany and Holland)
- Mid to upper income, family customer base
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Eurocamp, the original business, and Keycamp are market leading brands. In September, we acquired
EuroSites from MyTravel plc. EuroSites is a similar business to Eurocamp and Keycamp but is targeted
more at the ‘budget conscious’ consumer. Two other smaller businesses, Eurocamp Independent and
Perfect Places (formerly Eurovillages), provide campsite booking services and ‘bricks and mortar’ selfcatering holidays respectively. Both are consistently profitable and cash generative.
Operating profit for 2002 increased by 6.3% to
£19.0m. The small margin improvement compared
to 2001, from 17.2% to 17.4%, continued the trend
of recent years as more profitable mobile-home sales
have increased their share of turnover. Mobile-home
sales increased by 12% and represented 58% of all
bookings (72% in the UK).
The Camping sector was largely unaffected by the
events of September 11th. After an initial lull
bookings came in strongly in the pre-Christmas
period. The effect of excess capacity in the main
package sector appeared to slow post-New Year
demand but the late booking market was strong
once the Jubilee and World Cup were behind us.
Camp-site occupancy rates were in line with
expectations and average sales values were also on
target. Apart from some small early booking
incentives and a limited number of tactical
promotions there was no price discounting.
Economic concerns dampened demand in overseas
markets, particularly Germany, but bookings from
Holland, over the years our most consistently
performing market, came through strongly as the
Summer season approached. Amongst the smaller
markets, Switzerland, where only Eurocamp operates,
was a good performer. Ireland appeared to be the
most affected by post-September 11th concerns but
recovered well later in the campaign.
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