On the Beach said that it was suspending full year guidance and that it would not be declaring an interim dividend in the current financial year.
The group's CEO was also forgoing his salary and the remainder of the board have voluntarily agreed to a 20% reduction in salary and fees.
The company told the market that it had an “asset light, flexible, no inventory risk model and no fixed commitments on hotel rooms or airplane seats”. It added that, if demand fell away completely then the fixed cost base will drop to c.3% of aspirational sales (or one twentieth of the costs of a similar sized asset heavy operator).
The company described itself as the only listed UK travel business that operated a fully ring fenced customer trust account in which customer funds were held until the point of travel. “Therefore the group, unlike the majority of online travel agents, tour operators and airlines, does not rely on cash received for forward bookings to trade. Monies that have been received for holidays that are cancelled by a closure of airspace can be repaid to customers in cash with limited impact on the group's working capital.”