Luxury travel agent Elegant Resorts and long-haul specialist Gold Medal are among the brands that could be put up for sale by Thomas Cook as the new chief executive, Harriet Green, unveils her revival strategy this week, according to analysts.
Thomas Cook confirmed it is selling some of its brands as reports claimed that group chief executive Harriet Green was also preparing to turn to shareholders to raise more than £400 million as part of a rescue plan for the business.
Luxury travel agent Elegant Resorts and long-haul specialist Gold Medal are among the brands that could be put up for sale by Thomas Cook.
Ms Green, who was appointed in July to revamp the struggling tour operator, has already outlined £160m of cost savings since her arrival, which will be delivered through initiatives such as merging its UK, German and Belgian airline businesses.
But some analysts believe further significant costs can still be stripped out of the company, which fell to a £485m loss last year but has since reported more positive signs of a pick-up in trading.
By 2015, the company hopes new product will be bringing in an additional £500 million of revenue, half it holidays will be sold on the web (see story) and profits will have improved by £350 million.
The group last week announced 2,500 job losses in the UK – one in six of its staff in Britain – as it seeks to restore its flagship business to health. Retail jobs will account for 1,600 of the redundancies as Thomas Cook plans to close a further 195 high street travel agencies.
The remainder will be administrative and management roles. The tour operator has insisted it is reviewing “every part of its business” and Ms Green is not expected to unveil a shopping list of potential disposals on Wednesday.
