Cullinan weathers challenging year

Tourism and leisure group says the sector remains concerned about the requirement for visitors to SA to produce unabridged birth certificates for minors

 It has not been a bad year for tourism and leisure group Cullinan Holdings, which is more than most can say about 2016.

Revenue was up 16% to R1.04bn during the year to end-September.
Aftertax profit was up 21% to R71m compared with the year-earlier period.
The company also generated R236m in cash from operations compared with R60.3m.
Cullinan declared a final dividend of 1c per share.

The company said there was a "particularly strong upturn and performance [in 2016] in our inbound tourism businesses. The marine division performed well and our local travel and outbound tourism businesses generally held up well despite a weaker rand and in some areas gained further market share."

Cullinan said that forward bookings were positive and the group was expecting its inbound tourism market to strengthen during 2017.
The company said the tourism sector remained concerned about the requirement for visitors to SA to produce unabridged birth certificates for minors.
Earlier in December Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba announced the controversial requirement would be relaxed by March.

Significant capital expenditure is planned for the group’s coach fleet. They company said it would "continue to look for acquisitions in the tourism and financial services sectors" in 2017.

 by Pericles Anetos|BDlive