THOMAS Cook UK chief executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa has defended making redundancies in its most profitable division.
This week, Thomas Cook UK posted a £83.3 million profit for the 12 months to the end of October 2005 up 63.3% on the previous year’s £51 million profit with total turnover at £1.7 billion. This follows the redundancies of 325 tour operating staff last month.
Fontenla-Novoa said the operating division was the driving force behind record profits.
Speaking about the redundancies, he said: “I cannot shirk big decisions. The people involved were shocked and hurt, but they understand it is a business that needs to keep moving forward.”
Fontenla-Novoa said the 570 shops recorded “slightly improved profitability” despite a switch of 10% in bookings to the web.
For summer 2006, Thomascook.com has sold 18% of packages so far, more than Thomson, MyTravel and First Choice put together.
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