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Travelzest sees 30% sales rise

TRAVELZEST HAS seen a 30% increase in UK sales for summer 2010 compared with this time last year.

The company, which runs specialist brands

Captivating Cuba, Best of Morocco and JMB Holidays, gave a trading update as it prepared to enter the “quiet” period before releasing half-yearly results in June. “We continue to see increased demand in UK, Canada and US markets, with improved outbound travel interest in all regions,” it said. “New marketing and operational strategies

are showing strong signs of improving brand awareness and market share capture in both the UK and Canada.” Travelzest added that the volcanic ash crisis last week caused only “minimal impact” to its businesses.

Meanwhile, Unijet founding director Nigel Jenkins has been appointed as a non-executive director for Travelzest. Jenkins, who has been involved in the travel industry for 35 years, also worked for First Choice from 1998 until his retirement in 2006.

In brief

■ Hertz to buy rival Dollar Thrifty for $1.2bn

Hertz is to pay $1.2bn in cash and shares to acquire Dollar Thrifty which operates the Dollar Rent A Car and Thrifty Car Rental brands. Hertz’s network of car hire locations will be boosted by 30% to 9,800 global outlets.

■ United and Continental renew merger talks

United Airlines and Continental Airlines are pressing on with talks over a possible merger after US Airways said it would not proceed with a tie-up with United. United and Continental nearly merged in 2008 and the latest talks face a poten- tial stumbling block over how the all-share deal should be valued. Meanwhile, Continental’s losses increased to $146m for the first three months of 2010 compared with $136m for the same quarter last year, despite a 7% increase in sales to $3.17bn.

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14

30.04.2010

Hotels such as the Windermere Hotel have helped Shearings offset a decline in coach tour sales

Shearings up 8% as hotels grow

Rob Gill.

SHEARINGS IS continuing to diversify by building up its hotels portfolio and chartering its first full-ship cruises. The company, which is owned by private

equity giant 3i, made a pre-tax profit of £4.1m last year – a rise of 8% compared with a £3.8m profit in 2008.

This was despite a slight fall in revenue from

£183.7m in 2008 to £180.4m last year. The star performer was the hotels division

where new brands Coast and Country hotels and Bay resorts helped revenue jump 8% to £70.7m. Operating profit also rose by 13% to £3.4m. The company plans to invest more in its hotels business, which currently has 49 properties, as well as chartering All Leisure Group’s Discovery cruise ship for three itineraries from the UK in summer 2011. Shearings’ holidays division, including coach

tours, saw passenger numbers drop by 2,000 to 640,000. Revenue was down by 7% to £136.4m. It put the drop down to lower overseas sales due to the strong euro against the pound, which discouraged customers from going to more expensive European destinations. This loss of revenue was partially

offset by higher sales for domestic UK tours, and the group also managed to reduce transport costs to maintain profit levels. Shearings Group chief executive Denis

Wormwell said last year had been tough but the company’s target markets had been resilient and the appeal of its brands was widening. Shearings said it had sold two million hotel bed nights in 2009 with an average occupancy rate of 83% after investing £10m in improve- ments. The company added that the focus on hotels had helped bring in business from a younger more independent type of customer.

Tui AG vows to keep hands on Tui Travel

TUI TRAVEL’s majority shareholder Tui AG has vowed to maintain control over Europe’s biggest tour operator. Tui Travel announced last week the issue of

£400m of corporate bonds, which can be con- verted into shares by investors. Tui AG, which controls 54.9% of Tui Travel, plans to buy 50% of Tui Travel’s new bonds. The

move will allow it to maintain the level of its stake and keep control over its subsidiary. “A mechanism has been put in place to secure

Tui’s voting rights majority over Tui Travel at any time if any bonds are converted by third par- ties,” Tui AG said in a statement. Tui Travel is planning to use part of the money raised to acquire other operators (TTGApril 23).

020 7921 8011 rgill@ttglive.com

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