Travel company eDreams ODIGEO will hire 130 people for its Barcelona office as part of its strategy to concentrate its workers in its offices in Spain to gain in efficiency and competitiveness. The company made the announcement in a press conference after presenting its first semester results. In the first six months of the year, they earned net profit of 17.1 million euros (£15.1 million, $20.2 million), 3% more than last year, with 254.5 million euros of income (£224.7 million, $301.8 million).
The first semester of the financial year also saw sales grow 2% and revenue margins grow 8% even though sales in their largest markets (Spain, Italy and France) have fallen lightly. On the other hand, in expanding markets, eDreams has increased reserves 4%. For 2018, they have revised their growth predictions, now calculating that they will obtain reserves of more than 11.7 million euros, more than 487 million in margin over income and year-on-year growth of 10% EBITDA.
The company's financial director, David Elizaga, has said that they want to put the new strategy into place and hire the new employees as soon as possible. The jobs cover areas from engineering to management and administration. ODIGEO currently has a total of 1700 employees, of whom 1200 are in Spain, after layoffs in their international offices which had cost approximately 12 million euros.
New challenges
Consumers are ever more frequently using mobile phones to make reservations, and this is what eDreams wants to strengthen, creating tools to ease mobile sales, which currently make up 37% of total flight reservations. "The problem is that developing for mobiles is complicated, it means redesigning the product from top down", said Elizaga, but "companies which adapt first will be more competitive, and we will lead the sector".
On the other hand, one of the main themes of their new business strategy is to offer clients' more products and services. The idea is to charge less for each service, but to earn in turnover of additional services, like flight insurance and car hire. Elizaga believes the new strategy should be fully enacted by mid-2019.
Catalan crisis
Asked whether the political crisis in Catalonia had affected reservations, Elizaga didn't give a clear answer. He said that they are "a global company" which "sells in more than 43 countries and has revised growth predictions". The business had moved subsidiaries to Madrid to 10th October "to protect [their] clients' interests". They say, however, that the move "had no important effects".