Thomas Cook Group
| Company type | Public (LSE: TCG.L) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Transport (Package Holiday Group) |
| Founded | 1841 |
| Headquarters | London |
Key people | Peter McHugh (CEO), Manny Fontenla-Novoa (CEO), Michael Beckett (Deputy Chairman), Thomas Middelhoff (Chairman), John Bloodworth (Managing Director UK) |
| Products | Passenger transport |
| Revenue |  Est £8 Billion GBP |
Number of employees | 19,000 Est UK Full Time |
| Website | www.thomascookgroup.com |
Thomas Cook Group PLC is the company created through the merger of Thomas Cook AG and MyTravel Group PLC. The terms of the merger resulted in the group being 52 per cent owned by KarstadtQuelle and 48 per cent owned by the shareholders of MyTravel.
With a joint fleet of 97 aircraft; 2,926 stores; 32,722 employees and over 19.1 million annual customers, the new Thomas Cook Group PLC is the second largest travel company in Europe, behind TUI, and the largest in the UK, Scandinavian, French, Dutch, German and North American markets.
The merger was completed on 19 June 2007 following regulatory approval on 18 June 2007, [1] although full and integration of the two groups will take up to three years. The merger will bring together brands such as Airtours and Thomas Cook, Ving and Neckermann and MyTravel Airways and Condor Airlines, amongst others. Some brand duplication is expected, for example between Escapades and Club 18-30 but most will be complementary. A full report on how the new group will be formed is expected in the coming weeks.
The merger is beneficial to both parties and will bring much needed consolidation to the UK market and secure both companies' future. Thomas Cook does not have operations in Northern Europe or North America whereas MyTravel does not have operations in Continental Europe. The merger was backed by 99.9% of shareholders. [2]
The merger took place with the formation of 'NewCo' which will effectively purchase MyTravel and Thomas Cook and be placed on the FTSE under MyTravel's licence trading as Thomas Cook Group PLC.
History
MyTravel Group PLC
The group was founded under the Airtours brand in 1972, when David Crossland purchased a series of small travel agencies in Lancashire, United Kingdom. The group began operating package holidays and launched its own in-house charter airline, in the early 1980s.
During the 1990s, Airtours purchased Scandinavian Leisure Group (SLG) including award winning tour operators such as Ving and airline Premiair.
In 2002, Airtours Group PLC, re branded under the new company wide banner of MyTravel Group PLC. This included a name change for Airtours International and Premiair to MyTravel Airways. Shops throughout Northern Europe were re branded to MyTravel however UK retail outlets remained under the banner of Going Places due to the immense brand awareness (currently 97%) and popularity - a brand that continually wins the accolade of ‘UK’s Favourite Travel Agent’ as voted for by Daily Mail readers.
The company ran into financial difficulties in 2004 and needed to implement a debt-for-equity swap in order to complete implementation of a group restructure. It has since completed its financial restructuring and has seen a turnaround in its business and its North America and Northern European divisions have been producing record profits consecutively for the last 2 years.
In 2004/2005, MyTravel took 5.7 million people on holiday of which 3.4 million were from the UK, 1.5 million from Northern Europe and 0.8 million from North America.
- EU Approval for the merger was granted on the 4th May 2007. (See press release at [1])
Thomas Cook AG
Thomas Cook Worldwide has 5 wholly owned subsidiaries Thomas Cook UK, Thomas Cook Netherlands, Thomas Cook France, Thomas Cook Belgium, Thomas Cook Destinations and majority holdings in Condor Flugdienst and TC Touristik. Thomas Cook used to have a franchise agreement in the Middle East - Specifically in the United Arab Emirates through a licensee agreement it had with a local group called the Al Rostamani Group. The venture has now been terminated after The Thomas Cook brand name was sold to Dubai Holdings which plans to use it in the Middle East.
In the United Kingdom, Thomas Cook conforms to the model of a 'vertically integrated travel company' operating an airline, a retail arm and also a tour operator. This tour operator division has previously been known as Thomas Cook Tour Operations but in early 2006 was restructured as the 'Holidays Division', incorporating the previously separate Thomas Cook Signature brand alongside the Thomas Cook, JMC and Sunset brands. The 'Specialist Products' division includes Uptrips (including the Club 18-30 brand), Style, Neilson Active Holidays and Sunworld Ireland.
In 1999, Thomas Cook AG sold off its worldwide Foreign Exchange business to Travelex to concentrate on tours and holidays.
After the market depression, particularly following September 11, 2001 attacks, Thomas Cook AG had started a disinvestment programme by disposing off some of its subsidiaries and business ventures to follow a highly flexible business model and become an asset light company with minimum capital tie up. The business focuses on Europe for the sale of package holidays and tailor-made holidays for customers' specific requirements.
On December 21, 2005, Thomas Cook AG, sold off Thomas Cook International Markets, a venture which includes 60% of the stake in Thomas Cook India Ltd to Dubai Financial LLC, a part of the Dubai Investment Group (DIG) which manages the financial and real estate interests of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai. Thomas Cook India is a profitable venture which offers a broad band of services like package tours, currency exchange and travel insurance besides hotel and flight reservations. Thomas Cook India has been in existence for 124 years and operates 60 offices across various locations. Thomas Cook India has branches in Sri Lanka and Mauritius and reported sales of €23.3 million. After the take over by Dubai Financial LLC, Thomas Cook India has taken over LKP Forex, one of India's leading foreign exchange houses and more recently The Travel Corporation of India (TCI), India's leading travel and tourism corporation.
Following this, Thomas Cook Overseas Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Thomas Cook UK was sold off, this time again to Dubai Financial LLC. (Thomas Cook Overseas Ltd consists of 19 travel agencies, 22 currency exchanges in Egypt with 371 employees and during the 2005 business year had a turnover of just under €6 million).
Thomas Cook AG soon entered the market again, this time to sell off two more of its subsidiaries - Thomas Cook Thailand and Thomas Cook Middle East both to Dubai Financial LLC. Thomas Cook Middle East consists of the Middle East region, which has experienced a boom in travel and tourism, especially in places like Dubai, Qatar, Oman and so on. Thomas Cook Lebanon S.A.L. had started in June 2004 providing travel and financial services. The company also operates a travel agency and a currency exchange in Beirut. Dubai Financials has planned an aggressive expansion strategy for its newly acquired arms.
Thomas Cook Canada was sold to Transat A.T. in 2006, marking Thomas Cook's exit from the North American market in terms of its own retailer.
Divisions & Brands
The new Thomas Cook Group PLC will have severn Core Consumer Brands including Thomas Cook, Airtours, Neckermann, Condor, Ving, Direct Holidays and My Sunquest. The company will operates in five main divisions, UK, Northern Europe, North America, Continental Europe, and German Airlines. Thomas Cook Group PLC Divisions & Brands
Brands Brought Together
Just some of the popular household names which will unite:
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Airtours Holidays
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Club 18-30
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Direct Holidays
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holidayhouse / toursmaison
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jmc Holidays
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MyTravel
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MySunquest Vacations / Vacances MySunquest
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Neckermann Of Europe
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Spies
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Tjæreborg
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Tradewinds Worldwide Holidays
-
Ving
References
- ^ "UK High Court backs MyTravel, Thomas Cook merger". Forbes. 2007-06-18. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
- ^ "UK High Court backs MyTravel, Thomas Cook merger". Forbes. 2007-06-18. Retrieved 2007-06-21.