Thomas Cook, the second largest tour operator in Europe behind TUI travel, has announced its pre-tax profits for the year ending September at £308.2 million.

The group claims to have handled the effects of the recession and the global threat of swine flu comfortably, with both summer and winter bookings forecasts looking positive. The group said that medium haul destinations such as Egypt and Turkey contributed strongly to the better than expected profit results.

While the pre-tax profit fell slightly from last year at 0.4% the figure was still ahead of the predicted 3% fall by market analysts. Total revenues rose by 6% to £9.3 billion.

CEO Manny Fontela-Novoa was pleased with the results, particularly in times of recession. Fontela-Novoa also confirmed that the winter outlook is continuing to improve and trending towards expected capacity, adding that bookings for next summer were also in line with the group’s expectations.

The last month especially had seen encouraging signs for the upcoming holiday season, with the group reporting that bookings had increased by 14% with average sale prices up by 2%.

More efficient management of medium and long-term holiday suppliers meant that prices in the sector had grown by 7%.

Thomas Cook, who in 2007 merged with fellow tour operator MyTravel, announced that average selling prices had risen by 6% in the UK. The group also confirmed that a higher than expected cost savings of £125 million from its MyTravel merger had further boosted its coffers.