TRAVEL WEEKLY BUSINESS CONTINUED FROM BACK COVER
and from customers. We will consult with everyone about what we do with the businesses going forward. “What seems like a delay is actually
positive to us because it means we can sit down with all the relevant people to get their feedback. We will be going through a very open process,” he added.
Exciting opportunities Andrew stressed that all aspects of the Stella Travel Services business were “very appealing” and said he was “very excited about the opportunity that bringing together two excellent businesses presents”. “We rate the UK travel market very highly indeed. Our Travel Republic and Gold Medal deals have brought an awful lot of value for dnata and we are very happy with Stella Travel Services as an organisation as well,” said Andrew. “We are impressed with what the management have done with the organisation; we have a respect for the team and for the brand equity they have established; and we are pleased with their performance – they are showing some very good trading results at the moment.”
He added that dnata would also be able to benefit from aspects of the Stella Travel Services business, a hallmark of its other UK travel acquisitions. “In the same way that we have taken
best practice and product from Travel Republic and Gold Medal, we would look to do the same with Stella Travel Services. They have some key strengths that we
Dnata’s UK interests lTRAVEL REPUBLIC
Bought (£ undisclosed), Dec 2011 Travel Republic is a leading UK online travel agent, based in Kingston-upon- Thames, which rose to prominence as pioneering dynamic-packaging firm.
lTRAVEL COUNSELLORS Signed joint venture, March 2012 Tie-up allows Bolton-based firm to operate a franchise model in the UAE.
lGOLD MEDAL Bought from Thomas Cook for £45 million, Feb 2014
will look to take advantage of.” Andrew said the Travelbag and Sunmaster
brands were of particular interest to the Dubai-based business. “Dnata has a presence on the high street
in dnata Travel, but Stella has some unique skills and brands. “Travelbag is a great business, for
example, and Sunmaster too is interesting as it isn’t a direct competitor OTA to Travel Republic, as a lot of its business is done over the telephone rather than online.”
Integrating the brands When asked specifically how dnata would
look to operate Travel 2 and its major rival, long-haul, trade-only operator Gold Medal, Andrew said: “We are going to keep a very open mind on that. The most important thing is that we do what the customer wants. Genuinely, no decisions have been made. “There’s nothing we’re going to do with the business [Stella Travel Services] – we’re leaving it alone during this evaluation period by the EU, but in five weeks’ time I should have much more detail about what we’re going to do, and what I can say is we should move fairly fast after that.” Asked if acquiring Stella Travel Services
Gold Medal was sold as part of Cook’s disposal strategy of non-core assets. It had been sold by owner Ken Townsley for £87 million in 2009.
l STELLA TRAVEL SERVICES Bought (£ undisclosed) from CVC Partners, Sep 2014 The Travel 2, Global Travel Group, Travelbag and Sunmaster parent was set up as a debt-free standalone business by Australian parent Stella Group in 2009. Since then rumours had persisted that it was looking to exit the UK travel sector.
would fill the gaps in dnata’s portfolio or fulfil its expansion plans in the UK, Andrew said there were still further opportunities. “The market is still very active there [in the UK]. There are many opportunities still out there. “There’s a fair amount we’re trying to do and we are looking at other parts of the world, but I have a really high respect for the UK travel industry. It has some great assets. “We are working through a number of opportunities but we wanted to close this deal [Stella Travel Services] first before moving on. We are looking to widen our product range and hope to announce something on that soon.” Andrew said he had been eyeing the
Stella deal for the best part of 2014 and had been in formal talks to acquire it for the past four months.
11 September 2014 —
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