Thomas Cook: forced landing

On the evening of 22 September 2019, the last attempt to bail out the Thomas Cook Group failed after Fosan Bank refused to add £ 200 million to a £ 900 million loan. On the other hand, the UK government was unable to rescue Thomas Cook Without risking significant losses, the state treasury may be affected. At 2:00 am on September 23, 2019, the management announced that the company was shut down immediately, leaving about 600,000 tourists stranded during their holidays.

The bankruptcy of “Thomas Cook” represents a resounding fall of a company that was listed on the London Stock Exchange on the “FTSE” index of the top 100 companies in 2010, and on the “FTSE” index of the top 250 companies last year.

WHO IS THE FOUNDER THOMAS COOK ?

Thomas Cook was born in Derbyshire, England, and grew up in poor conditions. He entered school at the age of ten. Then worked as a bookseller. He later became a Protestant and a moderator of religion. On 5 July 1841 Thomas and his friend Mario organized a train journey with 570 activists from Leicester to Loughborough. He also later organized other train and steamboat trips. In 1872 he organized a 40,000-kilometer journey around the world, lasting 222 days. Cook’s first European overland trip was in 1855. On May 17, 1861 Cook organized a business trip by train and ship to Paris. In 1866 he organized another trip for the first time to America.

His company organized a trip to Luxor in Egypt on a tour across the Nile. His company worked as a contract to transport General Gordon’s campaign to Sudan in 1884, transporting 11,000 British and 7,000 Egyptian troops. This tourist company, founded by Thomas Cook and his son in 1871, was family owned until 1928.

WHO IS THE COMPANY ?

Thomas Cook Group (19 June 2007 – 22 September 2019) is a global British travel agency and travel agency listed on the London Stock Exchange. Founded on June 19, 2007 by the merger of the two companies (Thomas Cook AG and the group My Travel). The group owns a number of tour operators and charter airlines (Thomas Cook Airlines) in the UK, Belgium, Scandinavia and Egypt. It also owns Condor Aviation and the Hotels4u website.

The pioneering travel company, which was launched 178 years ago, has for some time been facing difficulties caused by competition from websites, and attributed the crisis to the concern of travelers about the issue of Brexit.

The company has desperately tried to raise 200 million pounds (250 million dollars) from investors to avoid its collapse.  The large group is a tourist operator and airline at the same time. The bankruptcy of “Thomas Cook” represents a resounding fall of a company that was listed on the London Stock Exchange on the “FTSE” index of the top 100 companies in 2010, and on the “FTSE” index of the top 250 companies last year.

Overall, our financial performance in 2018 was disappointing, despite starting the year well and making good strategic progress.

Group revenue was £9.6 billion, up 6% on a like-for-like basis, and group underlying EBIT was £250 million, down £58 million on a like-for-like basis.