A luxury travel company has been valued at £11.4 million as it made its debut on the London Stock Exchange.
Intosol Holdings, which achieved revenue of £6.5 million in the last financial year, also plans to raise £5 million in additional funds.
The business covers bespoke travel design operations with a database of more than 15,000 customers and a range of owned and managed boutique hotels under the Soul Private Collection brand.
The listing is designed to increase the firm’s profile in the English-speaking market and facilitate the expansion of the hotels division.
The group has offices in Germany, the UK and South Africa and it employs 41 staff, including 15 travel designers, and utilises its proprietary Virtosol online itinerary management system.
The system is being developed into a fully integrated virtual reality experience, with data intelligence capabilities supported by digital connectivity.
Soul Private Collection’s initial focus is on South Africa where the company is completing the purchase of its flagship Oceans Wilderness, a nine-bedroom boutique hotel on the Garden Route and initiating the development of a safari lodge in the Leadwood Big Game Estate.
Executive chairman Rainer Spekowius, who founded the business in 2003, said: “The plan is to build on our profitable platform and become a leading luxury bespoke travel company with an international client base, a global experience portfolio and a range of high-end properties across the world providing high margin revenue and asset backing.
“The listing facilitates the next stage in our growth strategy primarily through the development of the Soul Private Collection and expansion into English-speaking markets.
“We have a number of unique and exciting opportunities in the pipeline on the private travel design side and are focused on completing the acquisition of Oceans Wilderness and beginning construction of our Safari Lodge to provide increased margins and profitability.”
He added: “Intosol understands the changing face of luxury travel and the increasing preference for one-off experiences.
“We have a fantastic portfolio of destinations and unique experiences, which we successfully tailor to our clients’ needs, underlined by the extremely high level of repeat custom we receive.
“The luxury market has proven highly resilient to economic fluctuations, and by utilising our knowledge, experience and operational ability, we believe that we can build significant value for our shareholders.”