Dublin-based accommodation booking platform Hostelworld has released its results for the year that ended on December 31, 2020, which reveal that the company experienced a loss of €48.857 million last year.
Hostelworld's €48.857 million loss last year followed a profit of €8.394 million in 2019.
The company's net revenue decreased by 81% year-on-year last year to €15.4 million while its full year net bookings decreased by 79%; its net average booking value decreased by 22% to €9.33; it experienced cancellations of €6.2 million, which compares to €9.3 million in 2019; its marketing costs decreased by 72% to €9.3 million; its administrative costs decreased by 43% to €36.1 million; it experienced an adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) loss of €17.3 million, which compares to EBITDA of €20.5 million in 2019; its adjusted free cash flow absorption was -71%, which compares to 53% in 2019; and it experienced a basic loss per share of 45.68 cent, which compares to basic earnings per share of 8.64 cent in 2019.
Additionally, Hostelworld raised gross proceeds of €15.2 million through an equity placing in June 2020; the company had total cash at of €18.2 million as of December 31, 2020, which compares to €19.4 million on the same date in 2019; its balance sheet further strengthened post year end in February of 2021 with a new €30 million term loan facility; and there will be no cash dividends in 2020 due to COVID-19 uncertainty.
CEO Statement
Hostelworld CEO Gary Morrison stated, "2020 has been an extremely challenging year for both Hostelworld and the entire global travel industry. In light of the unprecedented challenges presented by the pandemic, our key priorities have been to support our employees, customers and hostel partners, increase our liquidity, and accelerate the execution of our core platform road map.
"During the year, we delivered significant improvements in marketing capabilities, user experience and inventory competitiveness. These improvements will have further strengthened the competitiveness of our platform relative to our capabilities in Q4 '19, when we had returned bookings to growth.
"As vaccination programmes continue to be rolled out in our key geographies across the world, I am confident our loyal customer base has a strong desire to travel once restrictions allow, even more so after a prolonged period of confinement. Furthermore, I continue to see significant opportunities to build a broader catalogue of relevant experiential travel products and services beyond hostel accommodation, and opportunities to connect like-minded travellers with each other via social features on our platform.
"I remain confident that Hostelworld will emerge from the pandemic stronger than before and able to seize market opportunities when normal travel patterns resume."
Company Outlook
Addressing its outlook, Hostelworld stated, "While the near-term outlook for the travel industry remains challenging and highly uncertain, we continue to expect the pace of recovery to be driven by changes in travel guidance in individual markets, which we hope to see accelerate as vaccination programmes are rolled out across our key geographies. Given the continued uncertainty relating to the timing of the recovery, the group is unable to provide guidance for FY2021.
"The board does not expect to issue a dividend under its current policy in respect of the 2020 financial year.
"We remain convinced that when travel restrictions are lifted, we will be well positioned to benefit from the recovery in demand, driven by our improved platform and loyal customer base."
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