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Midcounties Co-op is on speedy acquisition trail
Midcounties Co-op Travel is in talks with a number of other companies about potential acquisitions following its purchase of home-working business Kwik Travel this week.
Group general manager travel services, Alistair Rowland, said the strategy is to grow "quickly and strongly" as a fully independent travel retailer.
The acquisition of Tamworth-based Kwik Travel, for an undisclosed sum, increases the society’s network of home workers from 10 to around 60.
Rowland said it would be running it as "business as usual".
"It gives us greater traction in the home worker arena but it’s only a start for what we plan will be a very busy period for our developing online presence, home working and growing branch network," he said.
The acquisition comes just ahead of Co-op Travel launching its own Personal Travel Agents division and website, which will be headed by Sheena Darby, who moved to Midcounties from the Co-operative Travel Group.
She said: "The acquisition of Kwik Travel enables us to ramp up our home working service very quickly."
Kevin Duckworth, group managing director of Kwik Travel’s parent, Preston Travel Group, said: "The Group’s strategic focus is to concentrate on its core market-leading trade-facing tour operating brands – Longwood Holidays, Preston Holidays, Amathus Holidays.
"We are delighted after several very successful years inside the group that Kwik Travel now has the opportunity to move onto even greater success having been acquired by a very strong organisation like Midcounties. We wish Midcounties Co-op Travel and all our former colleagues every future success."
Claire Willoughby, MD for Kwik Travel, will continue with the business.
Kwik Travel is one of the ‘elite’ partners Teletext chose to stay with when it cut the number of retail advertisers from 50 to 15.
by Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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