Losses increase for Thomas Cook

Losses have mounted for Thomas Cook but the tour operator says it can “unlock the full potential of our brands” with the development of new and different products.

Thomas Cook
Thomas Cook is still struggling with its finances but new direction signalled by group CEO.

The company’s losses have widened year on year with a pre-tax drop of £485.3m for the 12 months to September.

In contrast, rival travel company TUI has recovered strongly from its own financial dip in recent past years and puts this down to differentiated and exclusive holiday products.

Thomas Cook has just parted company with a raft of senior management as new group CEO Harriet Green begins a restructure plan.

This includes breaking down “historic [internal] silos” and changing the company culture; developing online distribution channels and tackling costs with efficiency improvements focused on centralised hotel purchasing and global procurement.

Green, who has just a appointed Peter Fankhauser as CEO of Thomas Cook UK, says: “Through building on our core product strengths to further improve our proposition with new and different products, we have a significant opportunity to unlock the full potential of our brands and attract more customers.”

Although full year revenue has dropped to £9.5bn from £9.8bn, Green points out that fourth quarter revenue strengthened and the company will give a clearer view of its strategy in the spring. Thomas Cook struck a new financial agreement with its banks earlier this year for a £1.4bn credit line.

Thomas Cook is expected to launch a multimillion pound marketing campaign at Christmas under the direction of recently appointed UK marketing director Mike Hoban, as first reported by Marketing Week.

It’s expected the activity will be a tailored from an international campaign but Hoban says: “Our turn-of-the-year campaign will be launching on Christmas Day and it will be our biggest push for some time including TV, radio, online and press advertising.  

“Thomas Cook’s brand is a much-loved and highly valued both on the high street and online and our campaign will be showing just what we have to offer.”

Recommended