Saga Upbeat on Profit Goals Despite Higher Financing Costs

Saga PLC said it is confident in hitting its medium-term profit goals, despite a declining bottom line in the first half of its fiscal year due to higher financing costs. The U.K. group, which provides specialized vacations and insurance for the over-50s, said underlying pretax profit fell 5% on year to 23.5 million pounds ($31.8 million) in the six months to July 31. That decrease was due to higher financing costs related to a new loan, Saga said. Revenue meanwhile climbed 7%, on an underlying basis, to 320.5 million pounds....