Intrepid Travel has posted its best ever annual performance.
The adventure travel specialist has reported a net profit of £11.2m (€13.1m) for 2023. This marked a £24.6m turnaround from 2022, while contributing a record £2.4m to charitable and community causes.
This represents Intrepid’s strongest financial performance and best impact results in its 34-year history.
In 2023, Intrepid also grew its staff shareholders to 421 shareholders (up from 52 in 2022), who will now benefit from this strong performance via the payment of its first dividend since 2019. This is in addition to a short-term and an enhanced bonus, which will be paid to all eligible staff.
The company reported a near 70% increase in bookings value and saw revenue surge by 113% to £276m.
“Last year was a phenomenal year of growth and our team demonstrated innovation and determination. This has set the foundation for Intrepid to embark on its journey towards its ambitious future targets,” said CEO James Thornton.
Highlights of Intrepid’s record year included:
- Bookings increased 68% to £320m.
- Revenue increased 113% to £276m.
- EBITDA increased to £17.8m from a loss of £9m in 2022, a £26.8m turnaround.
- The net loss after tax of £13.3 million in 2022 turned to a net profit after tax of £11.2 million in 2023 – a £24.6 million turnaround.
- Significantly strengthened balance sheet back to historical levels. At 31 December 2023, Intrepid had £78.7 million of cash and term deposits.
- Raised £1.4 million for 50 community partners through the Intrepid Foundation.
- Achieved its best-ever people engagement score of 58 (versus 56 in 2022), while recruiting 1,129 new roles across the business.
- Declared and paid its first dividend since 2019.
- Record number of volunteer hours logged with 708 staff volunteers supporting 171 volunteer organisations globally.
- Met 23 out of 25 key benchmarks in its Ethical Marketing Guidelines.
- Achieved 41% YoY online revenue growth and £92.7m in web bookings, representing 10,000 more direct customers in real terms.
- Paid a short-term and enhanced bonus to eligible staff.
- Expanded into accommodation with the purchase of a 15-room ecolodge in Australia’s Far North Queensland.
- Signed on as an early adopter of the United Nations Global Compact Faster Forward initiative under the Climate Action and Living Wage pillars.
