Thomas Cook Group plc is a British global travel company listed on the London Stock
Exchange.
It was formed on 19 June 2007 by the merger of Thomas Cook AG, itself the successor to
Thomas Cook & Son, and MyTravel Group plc.
It is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
At the time of the merger, 52% of the shares in the new company were held by the German
mail-order and department store company Arcandor and 48% owned by the shareholders of MyTravel
Group.
Arcandor filed for bankruptcy in June 2009, and its shares in Thomas Cook were sold in
September 2009.
The group owns a number of tour operators, as well as charter airlines based in the United
Kingdom, Belgium and Scandinavia.
Thomas Cook also owns the scheduled airline Condor and booking website Hotels4u.
History Formation
In February 2007, it was announced that the Thomas Cook AG and MyTravel Group plc were
to merge.
The companies announced they expected to make savings of over £75 million a year, following
the integration of both businesses.
Under the terms of the merger, the owners of Thomas Cook AG, KarstadtQuelle, owned 52%
of the new group.
The shareholders of MyTravel Group owned the remaining 48% share.
The merger was completed in June 2007, and took place through the formation of 'NewCo'
which effectively purchased MyTravel and Thomas Cook and was then listed on the London Stock
Exchange under the name of Thomas Cook Group plc.
2000s On 14 February 2008, Thomas Cook bought booking
website Hotels4U.com for £21.8 million.
On 6 March 2008, the company bought back its licence to operate the Thomas Cook brand in
the Middle East and Asia from the Dubai Investment Group for an amount estimated to be around
249 million euros.
In April 2008 Thomas Cook bought the luxury travel firm Elegant Resorts from its founders
Geoff Moss and Barbara Catchpole for an undisclosed figure.
The company took over Preston-based Gold Medal International, owner of NetFlights, in a deal
worth £87 million in December 2008.
On 8 March 2009 Thomas Cook signed a deal with Octopus Media Technology to host, upload,
and provide an online video player for Thomas Cook TV.
In Spring 2009 Thomas Cook UK signed a deal with International Entertainment Supplier
The E3 Group, to exclusively supply entertainment to the group.
In June 2009, Thomas Cook's majority shareholder Arcandor filed for bankruptcy, although the
group was not affected.
Arcandor's shares in Thomas Cook were sold by its creditor banks in September 2009.
In July 2010, Thomas Cook Group bought German tourism company Öger Tours, which was owned
by Vural Öger.
It was announced on 8 October 2010 that Thomas Cook Group was to merge its branch network
with that of The Co-operative Travel to create the UK's largest travel network.
The deal will see the new network 70%-owned by Thomas Cook and 30%-owned by Co-operative
Travel.
Thomas Cook's Going Places branded branches were rebranded under the Co-operative's brand.
On 22 November 2011, Thomas Cook shares lost about three quarters of their value on the
London Stock Exchange after the company announced it was in talks with its banks about increasing
borrowing by some £100 million but the shares recovered somewhat the following day.
There were also reports that the company was planning to close 200 of its 1,200 travel
agencies and foreign exchange offices.
In May 2012, Harriet Green was appointed as the chief executive officer of Thomas Cook
Group, succeeding Manny Fontenla-Novoa who was CEO from 2003 until August 2011.
On 1 July 2013, Thomas Cook announced that it would cease publishing the Thomas Cook
European Timetable, along with closure of the rest of its publishing business.
The final edition of the timetable was published in August 2013.
On 26 November 2014, it was announced that Green was leaving with immediate effect, and
that Peter Fankhauser, the COO would take over as CEO.
Ownership Thomas Cook Group plc's three major shareholders
as of October 2013 were Invesco, Marathon Asset Management and Kames Capital.
The remainder of the stock floats freely.
Operations
Thomas Cook Group operates in five main divisions, UK, Central Europe, German airlines, West
Europe and Northern Europe.
With a joint fleet, at merger, of 97 aircraft, 2,926 stores, 32,722 employees, and over 19.1
million annual customers, the new group became the second largest travel company in Europe
and the UK, behind TUI Travel.
Sponsorship Thomas Cook has been a main sponsor of Manchester
City and Peterborough United football clubs.
On 22 May 2009, Manchester City announced that the six-year partnership with Thomas
Cook would conclude at the end of the 2008/09 Premier League Season.
Thomas Cook was a sponsor of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
As one of the UK's biggest and most popular providers of package holidays, Thomas Cook
was appointed to provide "affordable and accessible" holidays and accommodation throughout the
games.
See also References
External links Official website
Thomas Cook