NEWS THE INTERVIEW


just in travel. Look at BlackRock [world’s largest investor], which has just joined Climate Action 100+ to put pressure on the world’s biggest polluting companies.” Thornton is also keen to make the


point that businesses with purpose can also be profitable. Intrepid reported profits before


tax of AU$22.6 million in 2019, up 56% on the previous year, on turnover of AU$488 million. Thornton says: “This is our


fourth record year of top and bottom-line growth. So you can be extremely profitable and growing and take this stance.” Intrepid is 90% owned by its co-


founders, with the remaining 10% of shares owned by 45 members of staff. “This means we all benefit when


the company does well. Everyone gets a dividend,” explains Thornton. The UK market is important


to Intrepid, contributing AUS$113 million to total turnover in 2019, up 12.8% on the previous year. Currently, 45% of Intrepid’s


business in the UK comes via the trade, with sales via travel agents


travelweekly.co.uk


Intrepid is recruiting for a


This is our fourth record year of top and bottom-line growth. So you can be extremely profitable and growing and take this sustainability stance


growing by 16.7% last year, outpacing 10.4% growth in UK direct business. “I imagine, given the Brexit


environment, there won’t have been too many businesses recording 12.8% growth in the UK last year,” says Thornton.


UK market Asked how Intrepid had performed so well in the UK amid such uncertainty, Thornton says: “It’s been a mix of things. We have some strong and exciting partnerships which have done well, and we’re also in a sweet spot in the way consumers are wanting to buy products. They are increasingly wanting experiences over possessions, and increasingly wanting


to buy from sustainable companies.” Thornton believes the UK has


huge potential for further growth. “We’ve done well in Australia,


which is a country of just 24 million people. The UK has 60 million people, for whom it’s so much easier to travel – and we believe there is huge opportunity for companies in our space to become more of a mainstream holiday choice,” he says. “You can go hiking up the Inca


Trail or in the mountains of Nepal and sleep in a tent – we can do that kind of thing. But a lot of what we do is just go into a country, meet its people, try their food and stay in different types of accommodation and use different modes of transport.”


managing director for the EMEA region and another for North America. It had previously put the two regions together under Michael Edwards, a strategy Thornton admits didn’t work as the two markets are just too different. Edwards left as he didn’t want to


return to an EMEA-only role, and head of industry sales Andrew Turner is also moving on, joining Flight Centre’s DMC Discova next month. Thornton’s first boss at Intrepid,


Robyn Nixon, has been drafted in from Melbourne to oversee the UK in the interim until both roles are filled. January has already got off to a


flying start in the UK, according to Thornton, who reveals that sales were 9% up in the first 17 days of January on the same period last year. Referring to the UK’s departure


from the EU, Thornton says: “Regardless of your political views, the fact that a decision has been made gives clarity and will provide some confidence in the market. With that, and a new team in place, we expect to have a good year as a result.”


6 FEBRUARY 2020 15


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