 dived more than 19 percent on Wednesday, after the company issued a profit warning for the financial year.){kind=link}
Shares in Saga (LON:SAGA) dived more than 19 percent on Wednesday, after the company issued a profit warning for the financial year.
The over-50’s travel and insurance company said underlying profits are set to grow slower than expected for the period, with profits around 5 percent lower for 2018.
“This has been impacted by more challenging trading in insurance broking during the period and the Monarch Airlines administration, which has affected our tour operations business,” the firm said.
“Our Travel segment continues to trade well and is expected to be strongly ahead of the prior year. However, the Tour Operations business has been impacted by the collapse of Monarch Airlines with an approximate one-off cost of £2 million.”
When Monarch airlines dissolved back in October, Saga had to switch to other carriers which resulted in one-off costs of £2 million.
Chief executive Lance Batchelor said the company was prioritising long term objectives, “against a backdrop of some challenging trading conditions”.
He said: “With greater customer insight and a stronger business platform, now is the right time for Saga to invest in growing the customer base and the business.
In its trading update, Saga said it expected its pre-tax profits for the year to the end of January to rise by between 1 percent and 2 percent.
Saga has around 2.7 million customers across the UK. The company has several operations across the UK, predominately in Kent and Sussex.
The firm has been listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Shares in the company are down 24.99 percent as of 11.03AM (GMT).