Thomas Cook to close stores

Travel giant Thomas Cook Group, which recently completed its £2.8 billion mega-merger with MyTravel, says it will close 150 stores and six offices in a move that could affect as many as 2,800 jobs, saving the newly merged FTSE 250-quoted group £95 million in costs.

Sites in Rochdale, Manchester and Birmingham are among those to close, though Thomas Cook says where possible it will look to find jobs elsewhere in the firm for affected workers. ‘As many as possible of those whose roles are potentially affected by today’s news will be offered the opportunity for redeployment within the business,’ said joint chief executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa.

The tie-up between Thomas Cook and MyTravel has created the second-largest travel company in Europe, speaking for 35 per cent of the UK package holiday market. Thomas Cook Group is 52 per cent owned by German retail chain KarstadtQuelle, the erstwhile parent of Thomas Cook, and 48 per cent owned by the shareholders of MyTravel.

Definitely not exposed to the package market crowd is Travelzest, the online travel group offering specialist travel programmes ranging from an arduous foot race through the Sahara to French cottages to naturist holidays in the UK. Interim results have provided investors with a useful update on progress from trailblazing chief executive Chris Mottershead. For the year to October, analysts are looking for a surge in ‘normalised’ profits from £900,000 to £3.6 million.