Stockport-based beach holiday online retailer On the Beach Group said its revenue increased 7.3% to £38.1 million and profit before tax soared 33.8% to £9.9 million in the six months to March 31, with daily unique visitors to its web site in the UK increasing 9.5% to 27.5 million.

On May 9, On the Beach completed the acquisition of online travel agent Sunshine.co.uk Limited for about £12 million.

On the Beach Group CEO Simon Cooper said: “On the Beach has delivered a solid performance in H1, with booking growth strengthening towards the end of the period and continuing into H2.

“In the group’s AGM trading update, management outlined the view that H2 performance would be stronger than H1, with more favourable YOY comparators in H2 and because H1 was impacted by the later timing of the low cost carriers’ seat release as well as key hotel partners in the Western Mediterranean holding back capacity to sell in the late market.

“All of these assumptions played out in the first half and have continued in H2.

“Given these market dynamics, we took a proactive decision to balance volume and revenue growth.

“This position remains under constant review to ensure that business performance is optimised.

“Strategically, the changing market dynamics are presenting a number of exciting opportunities for On the Beach to leverage its scale and technological capability and we are delighted to have recently completed the acquisition of Sunshine.co.uk to further strengthen our market leading position.

“Given the resilient and flexible nature of our business model the board remains confident in delivering a full year result in line with management’s expectations.”