Stella Travel Services is to consider further expansion opportunities following the appointment of a managing director for Europe.
Stella’s current portfolio in the UK includes Harvey World Travel, Travel 2/Travel 4, Travelbag and Global.
The shake-up involves the appointment of Shane Flynn in the new role in the next month, based in London but reporting into worldwide chief executive Keith Stanley in Australia. UK managing director Andrew Laurie remains in place and reports into Flynn.
Laurie confirmed the group was likely to consider expansion opportunities in Europe as a result of the appointment.
He said: “We don’t have any concrete plans today but we have aspirations to grow and over time it’s likely that we will examine opportunities in continental Europe. Shane will focus on where our growth opportunities are.”
The decision to bring in another layer of management also follows the rapid growth of the business in the UK. “We have looked at how to beef up the management of the business in the UK. We are a big business. There’s lots of change and we are expecting lots more change in future and we are going to get bigger,” added Laurie.