Thomas Cook Group plc

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Thomas Cook Group PLC (Formerly MyTravel Group PLC)

Type	Public (LSE: MT.S)
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)
Industry	Transport (Package Holiday Group)
Products	Passenger transport
Revenue	Est £8 Billion GBP
Employees	19,000 Est UK Full Time
Website	www.mytravelgroup.com

On 12 February 2007, Thomas Cook AG announced had merged with MyTravel Group PLC. The terms of the Merger will result in the Enlarged 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 will be the 2nd largest travel company in Europe, behind TUI and the largest in the UK, Scandinavian, French, Dutch, German and North American markets.

The merger is set to be complete by June 2007 subject to regulatory aproval and the full effects will be seen in a 24-30 month period. The merger will bring brands such as Airtours and Thomas Cook, Ving and Neckermann and MyTravel Airways and Condor amongst others toegther. Some brand duplication is expected for example, between Escapades and Club 18-30 but most will be complimentary. 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 will take 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.

1 History
- 1.1 MyTravel Group PLC
- 1.2 Thomas Cook AG
2 Brands Brought Together

Main article: 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 purchase 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.

MyTravel Airbus A321 awaiting departure from Malta Luqa Airport

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.

Main article: 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 also has a presence in the Middle East - Specifically in the United Arab Emirates through a licensee agreement it has with a local group called the Al Rostamani Group. The venture operates a travel agency and an exchange business - called Thomas Cook Al Rostamani Travel and Holidays and Thomas Cook Al Rostamani Exchange. The venture is a highly successful one and the travel agency is amongst the top travel agencies in the United Arab Emirates.

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 only on tours and holidays.

Image:Thomas cook diagram.bmp Thomas Cook holdings,December 2006After 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 Cooks exit from the North American market interms of its own retailer.

Just some of the popular household names which will unite: