19th Dec 2005 09:00
Travelzest plc19 December 2005 Date: 19 December 2005 On behalf of: Travelzest plc ("Travelzest" or the "Company") Travelzest plc Board Appointment • UK CFO of Thomas Cook Joins Travelzest as Group Finance Director The Board of Travelzest plc, the British travel group offering specialist travelprogrammes and services, is pleased to announce the appointment of Colin GrantMcKinlay ACA as its Group Finance Director. Mr McKinlay joins Travelzest fromThomas Cook UK & Ireland where he is currently Chief Financial Officer. Theappointment is effective on completion of Mr McKinlay's notice period which willbe no later than 1st June 2006. Mr McKinlay, 36, has held a number of senior financial positions within thetravel industry. Operating at an international level, he has extensiveexperience in periods of aggressive growth and expansion and the handling ofrestructuring and turnaround environments. Since 2004, Mr McKinlay has been Chief Financial Officer of Thomas Cook UK &Ireland and was responsible for all aspects of finance, IT, and central supportfunctions during a period of record profitability. Prior to this, he enjoyed a nine year career in MyTravel Group (formerlyAirtours Plc). During that time he gained considerable international experienceboth in continental Europe and Canada where he was Chief Financial Officer ofMyTravel's North American Leisure Group, working closely with its then ChiefExecutive Chris Mottershead. Mr McKinlay qualified as a Chartered Accountant atCoopers & Lybrand in Manchester. Commenting on the appointment, Chris Mottershead, Group Chief Executive, said: "We are delighted that Travelzest has attracted someone of Colin's calibre.Colin has first rate sector experience at the highest levels across Europe andNorth America. Since Travelzest's move to AIM in October, the Group has acquiredHoliday Express and The Best of Morocco. Colin is the perfect candidate to helpus deliver our aggressive growth strategy and build a pre-eminent group in thetravel industry." Current Directorships Past Directorships AB 9807 Beteilgungsverwaltungs GmbH CA Ferntouristik GmbH (merged into Frosch Touristik GmbH) Frosch Software GmbH Frosch Touristik GmbH Fti Fluggesellschaft GmbH (Sold) Fti North Amerca Inc (merged into Frosch Touristik GmbH) FTi Touristik GmbH Going Places Leisure Travel Limited MyTravel Personal Finance Limited MyTravel Tour Operations Limited MyTravel UK Limited NALG Holdings NALG Ireland Reisen und Meer GmbH TAH Touristik Agentur GmbH The Travelworld Group Limited Type Concep Tour Satz und Werbung GmbH UK Touristik GmbH (merged into Frosch Touristik GmbH) Villas Instyle Touristik GmbH Colin McKinlay resigned as a director of BOS 2 Limited (previously MyTravel Personal Finance Limited) in August 2003. Administrators were appointed to this company in July 2004. Save for the information disclosed above there is no other information falling to be disclosed under schedule two, paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules. Enquiries & Publication Quality Photographs: Travelzest plc 020 7747 7231Christopher Mottersheadwww.travelzestplc.com----------------------- Redleaf Communications 020 7955 1410Emma Kane/Duncan McCormick The Group currently comprises: VFB Holidays - a long established, award winning tour operator. VFB is currentlycontracted with the owners of approximately 350 holiday cottages throughoutFrance for the summer 2005 season, and has booking arrangements with over 150hotels, most of which are privately owned and are located in rural or semi-rurallocations. VFB specialises in cottage holidays in France, but also has a numberof other holiday programmes including: France a la Carte (hotel accommodation),Corsica, Short Breaks, Escorted Tours and River Cruises. Holiday Express - one of the UK's leading on-line travel agents which last yearprovided holidays for approximately 24,000 passengers. Holiday Express is atravel agent specialising in on-line travel fulfilment services and onlinetravel sales. Holiday Express' retail business (acting as travel agent),providing package holidays, charter flights and ski booking services, accountsfor the vast majority of its revenue and the remainder of its revenue isgenerated through acting as a tour operator. Holiday Express owns a number oftravel website domain names, including: - www.holiday.co.uk- www.flight.co.uk- www.discountholidays.com Best of Morocco is a tour operator specialising in high quality, tailor-madeholidays to Morocco for individuals or small groups. It provides a personalisedservice and its highly experienced and knowledgeable staff help each customerselect the hotels / resorts from their large range which are appropriate for thecustomer's desired style of holiday. Best of Morocco is the premier agent forthe Marathon des Sables, a foot race that takes place in Morocco in April eachyear, covering some 230km. Best of Morocco provides the largest contingent ofrunners for the race each year. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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