(MENAFN- AFP) British travel operator Thomas Cook cut its annual outlook on Thursday, and blamed sliding sales after the Brussels terror attack and Turkey's more recent turmoil.
The company forecast annual operating profit of £300 million ($395 million, 356 million euros), down from its prior guidance for between £310 million and £355 million that was given in May.
Thomas Cook added in a results statement that it made an operating loss of £25 million in the third quarter of its financial year, or three months to the end of June.
That contrasted with a slender profit of £3.0 million in the same period of the group's previous fiscal year.
Revenue slid eight percent to £1.85 billion in the reporting period, which it said reflected the "impact of Turkey and Brussels".
Thomas Cook added that summer 2016 holiday bookings were down five percent on the same stage last year. However, excluding Turkey, they were up eight percent.
Fewer holidaymakers want to head to Belgium or Turkey, which have both faced terror attacks this year. In addition, Turkey was rocked by a failed coup earlier this month.
"Our financial result in the third quarter was in line with our expectations when we last reported in May, following the impact of the attack on Brussels airport in March and continued weak customer demand for Turkey," said chief executive Peter Fankhauser in the statement.
Thomas Cook added it would seek instead to grow sales to alternative travel destinations such as Bulgaria and Cuba.
The London-listed operator said however that it had not yet experienced any noticeable fallout from Britain's shock EU exit vote on June 23.
"We are operating in a challenging geopolitical environment, with repeated disruption in some of our key source and destination markets," Fankhauser added.
"While Brexit has had no noticeable impact on our bookings so far, it has added to a general sense of uncertainty -- for our business and our customers alike
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