From investor dept15 Jul 2019 12:24
The wider operating environment in the European travel market has become progressively more challenging in recent months, resulting in lower valuations in the strategic review of our airline and tour operator businesses, than that first indicated from initial discussions. This combined with a continuation of the challenging trading conditions seen during H1, impacted our ability to achieve satisfactory disposal proceeds for either the whole or part of our Airline, or Tour Operator businesses.
The strategic review was always about improving the financial flexibility of the Group and paying down debt. The strategic review generated a number of expressions of interest for parts or all of the Airline, the Nordics and the TO. However, we always said that we would not sell at any price. Having assessed all of the bids received, the anticipated disposal proceeds fell short of what the Board considered fair value for the businesses, and none of the offers would have meaningfully addressed the capital structure and financial flexibility of the Group.
Fridays RNS will create a lot of questions, these can only be answered as we have constructive discussions with various stakeholders over the coming days and weeks. We will provide a further update in due course.