Challenges continue for one of the county's biggest employers after it warned of a multi-million pound loss in one of its key divisions.

Saga, which specialises in products and services for the over-50s, issued a trading update ahead of its AGM which forecasts a £3million loss in its cruise ship operations.

The firm has been travelling through choppy waters recently, issuing a profit warning in April and then announcing earlier this month its chief executive, Lance Batchelor is to leave the company at the turn of the year.

It has its headquarters in Folkestone and a major call centre in Thanet.

Folkestone will host the AGM later today (Wedneday).

The update revealed the group is "making progress...despite challenging trading conditions in both insurance and travel markets".

It said political uncertainties were hitting its holiday operations.

Its tour operations business saw revenues for the full year to June 15 down 4% on last year.

With a new cruise ship set for launch later this year, the Spirit of Discovery, it said cruise bookings were on target.

However, it warned it expects to report an operating loss of around £3m for the cruise business for the half year.

It put this down to the sale of the Saga Pearl II in April, and consequent short-term reduction in revenues, as well as training, launch and marketing costs relating to the Spirit of Discovery.

CEO Lance Batchelor said: "We are resolutely focused on the execution of our new strategy and have a clear set of priorities.

"Against challenging headwinds in both travel and insurance, we see early signs of progress in stabilising our retail broking business and forward bookings for the cruise business have been resilient."