Thomas Cook issues 'hot weather' profit warning
Thomas Cook has downgraded annual profit forecasts, saying hot weather hurt demand for bookings across its crucial summer season. The holiday firm said "tough" trading in June and July had continued, with the "unprecedented" period of higher-than-average temperatures across Europe meaning it had, like rivals, been forced to discount late bookings heavily.As a result, the FTSE 250 firm warned that underlying operating profits for the year to September were now expected to come in at £280m.Its previous guidance was for £323m. Shares fell almost 24% on opening while rival TUI was the biggest faller on the FTSE 100, down 3%.Peter Fankhauser, Thomas Cook's chief executive, said: "Summer 2018 has seen a return to popularity of destinations such as Turkey and Tunisia. ...