Thomas Cook: holidays "safe" despite owner's insolvency

I'm going away with TC on the 23rd of this month ,when i heard about the shareholder i was so worried, i hope this "safety" remains as i am really looking forward to goin away.

Pollycat wrote: »

And MSE Guy, is Arcandor AG the 'owner' of Thomas Cook or the majority shareholder?
Or are they one and the same?

Arcandor AG own 53% of Thomas Cook. TC are still listed on the LSE, so although they own a majority stake, it doesn't give them full control - and as such, the remaining shareholders can quite easily influence the company.

By all accounts, Thomas Cook are doing just fine.

http://www.hemscott.com/ir/tcg/ir.jsp?page=prices-delayed

Have a look at this page - you can see that their shares are falling a bit, but they're still worth a considerable amount. The sales will be due to the fact that Arcandor will likely sell the TC shares at a considerable discount - but the company itself is still in a very healthy situation.

TC are *not* a subsidary of Arcandor - indeed, a recent example is where Allied Irish Banks were in all sorts of trouble. They've now been nationalised by the Irish government, and they still own 70%-ish of BZWBK, a large Polish bank. The Polish bank has been unaffected by the troubles in Ireland - and right now, the BZWBK stake is actually worth more than AIB.

When a company is listed on the stock market, it's simply just not possible for a shareholder of 53% to take money out of the company.

Ahh, sorry, I completely missed it. My apologies

I find the quality of the 'journalism' on here to be somewhat lacking, to be honest. To call Arcandor the 'owner' is dreadfully misleading - the correct way would be to say 'major shareholder'.

gabyjane wrote: »

I am one of these people who always worry and will do now until we go on our holiday booked with them! 1 it is our last big holiday for a while, 2 it has cost a fortune (although obviously not paid it all yet) and 3 it is prob the nicest one we have and will go on so i always think the worst...only 7 months of stressing to go lol!

Its been said so many times on this forum, but Thomas Cook ARE safe:

- Arcandor are NOT the owner of Thomas Cook (despite this thread title and the MSE article)
- Thomas Cook are a separate company traded on the UK stock market. Arcandor are only a shareholder.
- Thomas Cook are profitable, the UK division is the most profitable, and probably the most valuable part of Arcandor.

I find the quality of the 'journalism' on here to be somewhat lacking, to be honest. To call Arcandor the 'owner' is dreadfully misleading - the correct way would be to say 'major shareholder'.

Totally agree. Despite the fact that it is misleading, the issue has already been discussed on this forum, Thomas Cook have totally correct statements on their website, and it has been covered widely in the press. The article here will IMHO only worry people more.

bagand96 wrote: »

Totally agree. Despite the fact that it is misleading, the issue has already been discussed on this forum, Thomas Cook have totally correct statements on their website, and it has been covered widely in the press. The article here will IMHO only worry people more.

This is the problem - people will see this article and immediately assume the worst will happen, when any careful examination of the issue can reveal that Thomas Cook are not in any serious trouble. They did lose 7% from their share price today - but that could be in anticipation of the Arcandor shares being sold at a massive discount.

The use of "safe" in quotes can only lead people to assume the worst.

Apparently the total debt owed to Thomas Cook by Arcandor is just under 1 million pounds. Given that TC's revenues are well over half a billion pounds a year - it's absolutely nothing.