TOI: The tourism company could withdraw its listing from the London Stock Exchange

London
CNN
—

Tui, one of the world’s largest tour operators, is considering whether to leave the country London Stock Exchange in what would be another blow to the city’s position as a global financial centre.

The German company, listed on the London and Frankfurt Stock Exchanges, said in a statement on Wednesday that some shareholders had contacted it to discuss “whether the current listing structure is optimal” and whether “delisting from the London Stock Exchange would be appropriate.” In the interest of shareholders.”

It added that a large share of trading is in its shares They immigrated from the UK to Germany in the last four years. Tui said the potential benefits of a consolidated listing in Frankfurt include “centralization of liquidity, a clearer investment profile… as well as cost reduction,” stressing that “no decision has been made.”

The board is considering whether to hold a vote on the delisting at the company’s annual shareholders meeting in February.

The announcement will revive concerns about the future of Britain’s main stock exchange, which has seen several companies move their primary listings to New York or choose Wall Street to go public over the past 18 months – most notably Softbank-backed chipmaker ARM Holdings (ARM), the jewel in the crown. For the UK technology sector.

Victoria Scholar, chief investment officer at online investment platform Interactive Investor, said Tui’s delisting “would be a huge blow to the London Stock Exchange, which has been grappling with an exodus of companies, as well as the poor performance of London-listed stocks”. he said in a note.

Having been far ahead of other European capitals for decades, London now goes head-to-head with the likes of Amsterdam and Paris, vying for its place as Europe’s largest stock trading center and most valuable stock market.

Headquartered in Hanover, Tui owns more than 400 hotels, 16 cruise ships, five airlines and 1,200 travel agencies. The group has 21 million customers and employs more than 60,000 employees, according to its website.

Tui, which has a market capitalization of 3.2 billion euros ($3.5 billion), reported revenue of 20.7 billion euros ($22.3 billion) for the year ended September 30 Wednesday — up 25% from the previous year and setting a new record.

Underlying operating profits more than doubled to 977 million euros ($1 billion).

The company also expects strong growth in its market share, sales and profits during the current financial period year. “Current winter bookings and the first indicators for next summer lead us to expect further improvement in 2024,” said CEO Sebastian Ebel.

Tui shares rose almost 10% in London on Wednesday, but are still down about 28% this year, “reflecting investor concern about its huge debt pile” and a decision to issue shares at a discount earlier in the year to try to pay down that debt. Debts, according to the researcher.

“Its net debt at the end of the year is 2.1 billion euros ($2.3 billion), although this is much lower by 1.3 billion euros ($1.4 billion) than the previous year,” she said.