LONDON MARKETS: Thomas Cook's Liquidation Wipes Out Travel Company Worth GBP1.85 Billion Just 18 Months Ago
September 23 2019 - 5:32AM
Dow Jones News
By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch
EasyJet, Tui rally after Thomas Cook collapse
Thomas Cook shares (TCG.LN) were halted Monday as the travel
company filed for liquidation, wiping out a company worth over
GBP1.85 billion ($2.3 billion) little more than a year ago.
The company's chief executive, Peter Fankhauser, blamed an
additional facility requested in the last few days for the
liquidation, a reference to the roughly GBP200 million sought by
creditors including Lloyds (LLOY.LN) and the Royal Bank of Scotland
(RBS.LN) .
The collapse led the British government to announce the largest
peacetime repatriation in history as it sought to bring home
150,000 U.K. customers.
(https://asset.wsj.net/dynamic-insets/charts/cdc_aaff482580b275abb454a392.json)
Thomas Cook's most recent financial report showed net debt of
GBP1.25 billion and a first-half ending March 31 loss of GBP1.46
billion. It blamed a summer heatwave for reducing demand for winter
holidays, and Brexit for delaying U.K. customer travel plans.
Thomas Cook said in May that economic and political uncertainty led
to high levels of promotional activity, and that higher fuel and
hotel costs also were weighing on the current year.
Thomas Cook shares were as high as 123.6 pence as recently as
April 2018. The shares closed Friday, at 3.45 pence.
The move did lift rival airlines, with easyJet shares (EZJ.LN)
surging 6%, and Ryanair (RY4C.DB) adding over 2%. Travel operator
Tui surged nearly 7%.
The broader FTSE 100 index fell 0.4% to 7316.04, a slightly
better performance than the rest of Europe .
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 23, 2019 05:17 ET (09:17 GMT)
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