Former Thomas Cook shops in profit for first time since Hays acquisition

Since being acquired by Hays Travel, the former Thomas Cook shop estate has returned to profit.

Cook's retail estate was bought by Hays Travel. 89 shops were closed last year due to the Pandemic, but it took on all the shops.

The shops had moved into a profitable position in January this year, but it had taken slightly longer due to Covid.

He said that they wanted to turn Thomas Cook around in 24 months. We did it in 27 months. It's a great achievement.

He said the shops had been in the black for February and March.

He said that there was still work to be done to integrate the former Cook shops, but that staff had gotten the Hays culture.

Woodall-Johnston told delegates that the Hays company had come out of the Pandemic stronger than before.

He said there were no plans to use a loan facility Hays had arranged with a bank in order to survive Covid.

We don't intend to use that loan, he said. It is likely that we won't use it. We have no debt in the 42 years we have been in business. We have a stable balance sheet.

He said that the group has seen a big increase in the number of new customers using its retail network.

The number of new customers at Hays Travel has gone up, but so has the number of clients.

The acquisition of new customers was one of the biggest success stories of the epidemic, according to Woodall-Johnston.