On the Beach is to buy its smaller rival online travel agency Sunshine.co.uk for £12 million.
Describing the acquisition of Sunshine as ‘highly complementary’, On the Beach said move will add about 200,000 customers to its annual 1.2m clients.
"The additional passenger volumes will significantly enhance OTB’s opportunity to drive an increasing proportion of business into exclusively contracted product and an ability to leverage incremental margin," according to an On the Beach statement.
On the Beach Group currently has a 20% share of the online short-haul beach holiday market.
Chief executive Simon Cooper said: "We are delighted to have acquired a brand as well-established with beach holidaymakers as sunshine.co.uk.
"This earnings enhancing transaction reflects the board’s ambition to consolidate On the Beach’s leading position in the online beach holiday space while supporting our drive to exclusivity and underpinning our ability to further leverage our scale."
Sunshine reported gross assets of £18.6m and EBITDA of £1.6m in its latest statutory audited accounts for the thirteen months to 30 September 2016.
