Since I last recommended the shares in November, the world’s largest travel and tourism company TUI Group (LSE: TUI) has seen its share price surge 22% from 1,001p to 12-month highs of 1,218p last month. However, the shares have fallen back a little in recent weeks after a German court ruled that the company should pay compensation to customers after dozens of flights were cancelled due to suspiciously high levels of sickness among pilots and cabin crew back in October.
Wildcat strikes
The Anglo-German travel group had initially refunded some costs to customers, but was reluctant to pay additional compensation as it argued that staff had effectively staged a wildcat strike over the threat of potential job cuts. However, a court in Hanover ruled that TUI should pay up, citing a lack of evidence to prove that staff had staged unofficial strike action. The resulting share price weakness has led me to believe that this could be an opportunity for investors to get a second bite of the cherry.
Last month the group reported a solid start to its new financial year with revenues up 8.5% in the first quarter and a healthy level of advance bookings so far for the summer season. The owner of well-known brands such as First Choice , Thomson, and Falcon Holidays is a true giant of the travel industry with a portfolio that includes travel agencies, tour operators, airlines, aircraft, hotels, cruise ships, and online portals. But this hasn’t stopped the company from pursuing new ways to expand in its quest to achieve higher levels of growth.
New airline?
Indeed, the company has recently been in discussions with Etihad Airways regarding the disposal of its TUI fly arm with the possible creation of a new leisure airline group for the German, Austrian and Swiss markets. Also, the growing number of bookings made online is also helping to improve margins, with profits also coming from diverse sources such as hotels and cruises.
I remain bullish on TUI, with the group expecting to deliver a 10% increase in annual earnings, and offering a full-year dividend payout of 54.78p per share. At current levels this equates to a healthy yield of 4.9%, with the payouts expected to rise even further over the next three years. Income investors should be more than happy with that.
Dividend hike
Another FTSE 100 group that hasn’t been afraid to splash the cash in recent years is property development and investment company Hammerson (LSE: HMSO). In its recent full-year results the retail-focused property firm managed to beat expectations with an 8.8% rise in net rental income to £347m, compared to £319m reported for the previous year.
Management celebrated the solid performance with an 8.6% hike to the final dividend to 13.9p per share, bringing the total to 24p for the year. Hammerson has a good track record when it comes to dividend growth, increasing its payouts each year since 2009. Analysts expect this trend to continue with consensus estimates suggesting another increase this year to 25.34p per share, giving a prospective yield of 4.3% at current levels.
