Skyscanner revenues surge 28% after '˜strong' year

Travel search engine Skyscanner, recently valued at more than £1 billion, has delivered its seventh consecutive year of double-digit growth.

Skyscanner chief Gareth Williams said the travel search engine enjoyed a strong year

The Edinburgh-based firm said revenues grew to £120 million in the 12 months to the end of December, an increase of 28 per cent compared with 2014.

Stripping out the effect of “unfavourable” currency exchange rates, revenues grew 34 per cent, and Skyscanner said sales gained momentum in the second half of the year, with a surge of 36 per cent.

Underlying earnings at the business – which has 770 staff and ten offices Edinburgh, Glasgow, Barcelona, Beijing, Budapest, London, Miami, Shenzhen, Singapore and Sofia – rose 5 per cent to £22m.

Chief executive and co-founder Gareth Williams said: “2015 was another strong year for Skyscanner, showing solid progress in our strategy of expansion beyond our home market, into mobile and beyond flights.

“Our first-half focus on investing in our product drove momentum for the business in the second half. We also saw excellent growth in travellers planning their trips on Skyscanner all around the world, especially on mobile and in the important regions of Asia Pacific and the Americas.”

Visitors to Skyscanner in 2015 grew 48 per cent over the previous year, hitting a record monthly total of 50 million. Mobile traffic jumped 60 per cent and now represent 59 percent of the total.

Williams added: “Skyscanner’s global coverage, our direct relationships with partners and travellers and the self-built technology that underpins our success, account for our solid performance in 2015.”