Utilico Insights - Jacqueline Broers assesses why Vietnam could be the darling of Asia for investors. Watch the full video here.

Less Ads, More Data, More Tools Register for FREE

Pin to quick picksThomas Cook Share News (TCG)

  • There is currently no data for TCG

Watchlists are a member only feature

Login to your account

Alerts are a premium feature

Login to your account

UPDATE 3-After Thomas Cook collapse, UK PM asks why bosses got paid millions

Tue, 24th Sep 2019 06:59

* Johnson questions bosses' pay ahead of collapse

* Johnson says taxpayer has had to foot the bill

* British state decided not to bail out Thomas Cook

* UK plans to fly 135,300 people back, 16,500 people today
(Adds business secretary, customer comments)

By Kylie MacLellan and Paul Sandle

NEW YORK/LONDON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - After the collapse of
Thomas Cook left tens of thousands of Britons reliant on the
government to bring them home, Prime Minister Boris Johnson
questioned whether the travel firm's bosses should have paid
themselves so much ahead of its demise.

Running hotels, resorts and airlines for 19 million people a
year, Thomas Cook currently has around 600,000 people abroad and
will need the help of governments and insurance firms to bring
them back from places as far afield as Cancun, Cuba and Cyprus.

Speaking in New York, Johnson questioned why the state
should be left responsible for the actions of handsomely paid
directors and said tour operators should have some sort of
insurance against such debacles.

"I have questions for one about whether it's right that the
directors, or whoever, the board, should pay themselves large
sums when businesses can go down the tubes like that," Johnson
said.

"You need to have some system by which tour operators
properly insure themselves against this kind of eventuality."

Thomas Cook was brought down by a $2.1 billion debt pile,
built up by a series of ill-fated deals, that hobbled its
response to nimble online rivals. It had to sell three million
holidays a year just to cover interest payments.

With the business draining cash, Chief Executive Peter
Fankhauser found its lenders were no longer willing to step in.
Fankhauser has earned 8.3 million pounds ($10.3 million),
including 4.3 million pounds in 2015.

The British government said it was unwilling to "throw good
money after bad" to back a bail out of the company.

Reports on Monday said the Turkish government and a group of
Spanish hoteliers were willing to support a 200 million pound
rescue plan underpinned by a British government guarantee.

Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom, however, said the sum
reported would not have kept the operator going for more than a
couple of weeks.

"There are all sorts of rumours flying, the fact is that 200
million (pounds) was even an underestimate of what Thomas Cook
would have needed just for the very short term, for the next
week or two," she told Sky News.

"Thomas Cook is sitting on trying to service 1.7 billion
pounds of debt, and it would have been a waste of taxpayers'
money to be throwing good money after bad."

Thomas Cook's demise, announced in the early hours of
Monday, sparked alarm at hotels where some customers have been
asked to pay their bills again by out-of-pocket resort owners.

"I think the questions we've got to ask ourselves now: how
can this thing be stopped from happening in the future?" Johnson
said.

"How can we make sure that tour operators take proper
precautions with their business models where you don't end up
with a situation where the taxpayer, the state, is having to
step in and bring people home?"

Emergency flights brought 14,700 people back to the United
Kingdom on 64 flights on Monday, and around 135,300 more were
expected to be returned over the next 13 days, Britain's
aviation regulator said.

"Just got to get through it," said Anthony Tents, a Thomas
Cook customer from central England trying to return home from
Mallorca in Spain. "We're going to get home but it's just some
of the people have lost their jobs, it's terrible, isn't it?."

Seventy-four flights were scheduled on Tuesday, to bring
back 16,500 people. More than 1,000 flights are planned.

"A repatriation of this scale and nature is unprecedented
and unfortunately there will be some inconvenience and
disruption for customers. We will do everything we can to
minimise this as the operation continues," Richard Moriarty,
Chief Executive at Britain's Civil Aviation Authority, said.

"We want people to continue to enjoy their holiday, so we
will bring them back to the UK on their original departure day,
or very soon thereafter."

($1 = 0.8052 pounds)

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Mark Potter)

More News
30 Sep 2019 09:43

Some Thomas Cook customers will wait 60 days for refunds - CAA

(Sharecast News) - Some Thomas Cook customers may have to wait for at least two months to receive a refund after the travel firm collapsed last week, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said on Monday.

Read more
24 Sep 2019 20:07

Germany to offer 380 mln euro bridging loan to Condor

BERLIN, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Germany has decided to guarantee a bridging loan of 380 million euros to Condor, the German airline owned by insolvent British travel operator Thomas Cook, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said on Tuesday."Condor is a pr...

Read more
24 Sep 2019 18:38

RPT-German govt, Hesse line up bridge loan of nearly 400 mln euros for Condor - sources

BERLIN, Sept 24 (Reuters) - The German government and state of Hesse want to jointly support Condor, the German airline owned by insolvent British travel operator Thomas Cook, with a bridging loan of almost 400 million euros, government sources t...

Read more
24 Sep 2019 14:27

Thomas Cook collapse affects 53,000 British nationals in Spain - tourism minister

MADRID, Sept 24 (Reuters) - The collapse of British travel firm Thomas Cook has affected 53,000 Britons in Spain, Spanish Acting Tourism Minister Reyes Maroto told reporters on Tuesday.The ministry has been in touch with German and Swedish author...

Read more
24 Sep 2019 12:18

UK accounting regulator mulls examining Thomas Cook failure

LONDON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Britain's Financial Reporting Council said on Tuesday it was considering investigating the collapse of travel company Thomas Cook."In light of recent developments at Thomas Cook, we are considering whether there is any ...

Read more
24 Sep 2019 10:09

UPDATE 1-Windfall for investors that bet on Thomas Cook collapse

(Adding details throughout)LONDON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - A panel of bankers has ruled that some investors in Thomas Cook's credit derivatives worth as much as $2.7 billion are eligible for a payout following the world's oldest tour operator's collap...

Read more
24 Sep 2019 09:33

Berlin to decide on loan for Thomas Cook's Condor within next days - Minister

BERLIN, Sept 24 (Reuters) - The German government will decide within the next coming days on whether to offer financial support to Condor, the German airline owned by insolvent British travel operator Thomas Cook, German Economy Minister Peter Al...

Read more
24 Sep 2019 09:21

Investors that bet on Thomas Cook collapse will get paid out - panel

LONDON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - A panel of bankers has ruled that some investors in Thomas Cook's credit derivatives worth as much as $2.7 billion are eligible for a payout following the world's oldest tour operator's collapse on Monday, according to...

Read more
24 Sep 2019 08:23

UK says bailing out Thomas Cook would have thrown "good money after bad"

LONDON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - The British government decided there was no point bailing out Thomas Cook as it would have been a waste of taxpayers' money to throw good money into a business that was not meeting the needs of its customers, the busine...

Read more
24 Sep 2019 06:59

UPDATE 2-After Thomas Cook collapse, UK PM asks why bosses got paid millions

* Johnson questions bosses' pay ahead of collapses* Johnson says taxpayer has had to foot the bill* British state decided not to bail out Thomas Cook* UK plans to fly 135,300 people back, 16,500 people today (Recasts with Johnson)By Kylie MacLellan ...

Read more
24 Sep 2019 06:59

UPDATE 1-UK plans to fly 135,300 people back after Thomas Cook collapse

(Adds details)LONDON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Emergency flights brought 14,700 people back to the United Kingdom on Monday after the collapse of travel firm Thomas Cook, and around 135,300 more are expected to be returned over the next 13 days, Britai...

Read more
24 Sep 2019 06:45

Thomas Cook Airline In Nordic Region To Resume Flights

Thomas Cook Airline In Nordic Region To Resume Flights

Read more
24 Sep 2019 06:38

Thousands Of Thomas Cook Customers Flown Home Amid Anger Over Bonuses

Thousands Of Thomas Cook Customers Flown Home Amid Anger Over Bonuses

Read more
23 Sep 2019 20:49

Thomas Cook's Nordic unit to carry on after parent company's collapse

OSLO, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Thomas Cook's Nordic business, the Ving group, will continue operations as normal from Tuesday despite the collapse of the parent company on Monday, it said.Hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers were stranded by the col...

Read more

Login to your account

Don't have an account? Click here to register.

Quickpicks are a member only feature

Login to your account

Don't have an account? Click here to register.