Thomas Cook lost a third of its value today after the UK holiday operator cut its full-year profit forecast for the second time in two months.
Thomas Cook, the oldest travel company in the world, also suspended its dividend following the hot British summer.
It has been hammered in recent months by the heatwave that gripped northern Europe this year, deterring UK holiday makers from booking lucrative last minute deals.
Shares in the company were down 31% at six year lows at one stage in London trade this morning.
Thomas Cook warned in July and September that the weather had hit demand in the most profitable part of the summer season and hurt winter trading, and the latest downgrade today took its shares down 70% in the last 12 months.
"After a good start to the year, we experienced a larger-than-anticipated decline in gross margin following the prolonged period of hot weather in our key summer trading period," chief executive Peter Fankhauser said.
Bringing forward its results by two days, the company that said underlying operating profit had fallen to £250m for the year to the end of September, down £58m on the previous year.
In September it had predicted an operating figure of £280m.
Thomas Cook makes all its profit in the summer when its customers in northern Europe, including Britain, Germany and Scandinavia go on holiday, mainly to warmer destinations in southern Europe such as Spain, Turkey and Greece.
Part of the hit came from £28m worth of legacy and non-recurring charges, due to transformation and disruption costs, and unpaid historic hotel bills.
"The UK was particularly hard hit with very high levels of promotional activity coming on top of an already competitive market for holidays to Spain," the company said.
