6th Feb 2014 15:24
LONDON (Alliance News) - Thomas Cook Group PLC Thursday said it has completed the sale of Elegant Resorts for GBP14.3 million.
The travel company said it sold the UK luxury travel tour operating entity to Al Tayyar, a leading travel group from Saudi Arabia.
"The sale of Elegant Resorts enables us to realise value from an asset that is not central to our business, allowing us to further focus on our key brands and products to drive our profitable growth strategy," Thomas Cook Chief Executive Officer Harriet Green said.
Elegant Resorts is based in Chester and employs around 100 people, all of whom will remain with the company on completion of the transaction.
The company also noted that the sale will result in a loss on disposal of GBP2.0 million, mainly based on the write-off of goodwill recognised at the time of Thomas Cook's acquisition in 2008.
The sale continues a string of recent asset sales as Green works to bring down the company's debt burden and focus it on its main businesses. The business was brought to its knees when its operations were hit hard by the financial crisis and resulting economic downturn, making it hard for it to service and refinance a big debt pile built up before the crisis hit.
Thomas Cook shares were up 1.1% to 183.3 pence Thursday.
By Thomas McIvor; [email protected]; @TomMcIvor1
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