INTERVIEW: Kuoni Sees 1H '10 Revenue Roughly Level To Year Ago

13th Jul 2010 21:32

By Katharina Bart Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES ZURICH (Dow Jones)--Kuoni Reisen Holding AG's (KUNN.EB) first-half revenue will be roughly level to last year's 1.76 billion Swiss francs ($1.68 billion) in sales, the Swiss travel operator's chief executive told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview Tuesday. The Swiss travel operator has suffered from low consumer confidence in Europe amid austerity measures, fallout from a flight ban caused by an Icelandic volcano, unrest in Thailand, and Greek woes, Kuoni CEO Peter Rothwell said. "If we look back on the half-year overall, there are a number of things which haven't gone our way: We were hoping, of course, following the economic crisis for a nice rapid recovery, reinstallation of confidence and no extraneous events," Rothwell said. "Unfortunately, the extraneous events were considerable." Kuoni reports first-half earnings Aug. 19. -By Katharina Bart, Dow Jones Newswires; +41 43 443 8043; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 13, 2010 16:32 ET (20:32 GMT)