Key events
Tui shares tumble as Iran war hits profits
Shares in German-listed Tui Group are down 3.1% as the company revealed the ongoing fallout from the Iran war.
Cautious travellers have hit booking levels, while geopolitical tensions kept fuel prices high, weighing on operating profits which fell nearly 27% in Q3 to €234.6m.
Profits at Tui’s hotels and resorts division fell 6.2% to €122.7m, while occupancy fell 5% due to 77% following a drop in demand across the eastern Mediterranean, Mexico and the Caribbean.
Meanwhile, its cruises business saw profits tumble 7.2% to €132.4m after taking a €20m hit from the war in Iran.
It comes months after Tui cut its profit forecast and suspended its revenue guidance in March, amid spiralling jet fuel costs and the uncertainty surrounding the Iran war.
Tui CEO Sebastian Ebel in a statement said that while 2026 “is no ordinary year” Tui had “held its own well in a difficult global environment.”
Our business model is proving to be resilient.
Travel remains highly relevant to people’s lives, but the timing of travel decisions has shifted.
Rivals including Lufthansa, and Air France-KLM, and British Airways owner IAG have also said they were either cutting, or maintaining capacity, in the coming months in order to help offset a broader fallout on their bottom line.
Introduction: Oil prices climb as Iran talks hit impasse
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.
Oil prices are still on the rise, as fresh attacks on ships raise concerns about disruptions to Middle Eastern fuel supplies, adding to doubts over the prospects of a US-Iran peace deal.
The US and Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have said they endured separate attacks on ships in the strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandeb strait on Tuesday, while Iran’s top security official, Mohsen Rezaei, said the strait would stay closed unless the US accepted Iran’s conditions to end the war, including the release of its frozen assets and an end to other regional conflicts.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote says:
Yesterday, the rally in US crude paused for a minute after Pakistan’s Defence Minister said that they were getting “close to some sort of arrangement”, but the relief remained short-lived after Iran added that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until the conditions it demands from the US are met.
And the conditions that both parties demand from each other suggest that the problems won’t be solved by tomorrow.
That has sustained pressure on Brent crude prices, which are near their highest level in a month and hovering just under $90 per barrel.
And companies like German travel firm Tui are continuing to count the costs.
Europe’s largest travel company missed forecasts for its third quarter profits this morning, having been hit by higher jet fuel costs and a drop in bookings.
Tui, which runs cruise ships, airlines and hotels, said operating profit was down nearly 27% to €234.6m, compared to last year. That is also far lower than the €274m projected by analysts.
It reaffirms travel companies’ warnings that tourists are thinking twice before going on holiday, given the ongoing uncertainty tied to the Iran war, though bosses maintain that customers are still keen to travel.
More on that shortly. Stay tuned.
The Agenda
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2026/aug/12/oil-prices-brent-crude-iran-trump-fuel-inflation-tui-travel-business-live
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