Saga has highlighted river cruises as a sector primed for expansion after its profits from January to July increased by 54% year-on-year.
Underlying pre-tax profits for its river cruise division grew to £6 million, supported by the launch of its newest ship, Spirit of the Moselle in July 2025.
Advanced bookings for its fourth purpose-built river cruise ship, Spirit of the Lorelei, have been ‘strong’ ahead of its planned launched in 2027, reinforcing its confidence in the long-term growth opportunity within river cruise, it said.
Ocean cruise also saw an uptick in underlying pre-tax profit, rising 38% to £47.7m, while customer satisfaction was ‘extremely strong’, with a repeat booking rate of 68%, according to its first half-year results.
Its strengthened profitability continued across its holiday products, which underlying pre-tax profit more than doubling year on year to £6.6m. Saga said the conflict in the Middle East had ‘only limited impact’ on its business.
China tours were reintroduced to Saga’s portfolio for the first time since the pandemic, which the group said demonstrated a ‘renewed customer appetite’ for exploring a broader range of destinations.
The group also noted a trend towards no-fly holidays among its customers and, in response, launched a series of ‘very popular’ summer breaks at UK colleges and universities, while a new range of UK Christmas holidays ‘almost sold out’.
Overall, Saga’s total underlying pre-tax profit was up from £23.5m to £46.6m year-on-year, with net debt decreasing by 7% to £429.1m.
Chief Executive Officer Mike Hazell said: “Saga has delivered another very strong set of financial results, building on the substantial progress we made last year. Our simplified approach to business has brought strategic clarity to our decision making and ensured customer focus is our number one priority.
“Profitability has increased significantly in the first half of the year and we expect this to drive a strong full year outcome, ahead of our previous guidance. All our core businesses are growing, cash generation has increased and debt continues to fall. Underpinning all of this, customer satisfaction has increased further, with our transactional net promoter score rising for the third consecutive year.
He said Saga was ‘significantly ahead’ of its medium-term target of achieving underlying profits of £100m by January 2030.
