Thomas Cook collapses into liquidation All flights and holidays have been cancelled Repatriation of 150,000 British holidaymakers begins Get the latest updates here 👉
Business Presenter, BBC Radio 4 Today programmeFor Thomas Cook’s unfortunate staff, customers and shareholders, history has come full circle. Eight years ago the company lurched perilously close to the edge of insolvency after trading turned sour. It was pulled back from the brink by an emergency loan from a group of banks led by Royal Bank of Scotland – ironically the same bank whose demand for extra money appears to have sunk the company this time.
As well as weak trading, the company’s big problem in 2011 was too much debt – about £2bn when the pension deficit was included. It tried to put its borrowing problem behind it in 2013, with a £425m fundraising from shareholders. This money was meant not only to deal with the balance sheet, but also to pay for an organisational overhaul led by a charismatic new chief executive, Harriet Green. Her reign lasted just over two years before she was replaced by Peter Fankhauser.
After the immediate repatriation and staff problems have been resolved, one question remains – will Thomas Cook live on in some form? The brand, one of the most famous in world travel, should be worth something. The obvious buyer would be Fosun, the Chinese conglomerate that was the British company’s largest shareholder. But they, and other buyers, may conclude the messy nature of the weekend’s collapse may have blighted the brand irretrievably.
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