HRG Buys Belgian TMC, Releases Annual Results

HRG today announced the acquisition of Antwerp, Belgium-based Weinberg Travel for $1.95 million, as well as preliminary annual results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2007, and shifts in strategy going forward.

Weinberg Travel, which HRG claimed is the largest independent corporate travel company in Belgium, has been a HRG partner since 2006 and has an events and meetings division. With the acquisition, HRG now has wholly owned or company-controlled operations in 25 countries in Europe, Asia/Pacific and the United States. The entire HRG network extends to less than 100 countries.

Separately, HRG, which relisted on the London Stock Exchange in October 2006, reported annual revenues of $623.9 million, an increase of 4.8 percent compared with $595.5 million from the prior fiscal year. However, operating profits decreased 9.9 percent to $70.9 million. The North American region, where sales growth was lower than expected, experienced a 14.6 percent increase in organic growth, which resulted in an additional $13.6 million. The company also claimed a more 90 percent retention rate of its existing client base.

HRG plans to rely less on revenues from traditional suppliers, such as airlines, and more on value-based services by expanding its regional-division approach. Based on the HRG North America model, the company is aligning Europe in 2007 and 2008, and in the 2008-2009 fiscal year it will move on to its Asia/Pacific division.

The company also revealed plans to internationally integrate its technology, which includes a "follow-the-sun" approach for linking its customer service centers in the United Kingdom, Hungary, Sweden, Singapore and Canada. The company also plans to roll out its independent technology platform, Universal Super Platform, in Europe and North America. The platform enables front-end booking processes to directly link with inventories of air, car and hotel, as well as aggregating inventory content from the Internet and global distribution systems.

"I am pleased to report satisfactory results after a year of transition at HRG," said Hogg Robinson Group CEO David Radcliffe. "Our IPO and the rebranding of HRG have been successfully completed and we are positioned well for another year of growth."