Shareholders of Western & Oriental have approved the sale of its travel division and the company’s delisting from the AIM stock exchange at an Extraordinary General Meeting this morning.
At the meeting shareholders unanimously agreed to both the £1.5 million sale of the business’ tour operating arm to shareholder Raj Kumar, of Furze International Limited, and the delisting of the company from AIM in order to save £200,000 a year in compliance costs.
Western & Oriental Travel managing director Kerry Golds said: “I am ecstatic. It’s a huge relief and very positive news. Going forward it’s given us financial security and it’s great to be privately owned.”
As far as the trade is concerned it is “business as usual”, she added.
Western & Oriental Travel’s tour operating brands include W&O Travel and Regent Holidays.
Kumar has already promised to invest £4 million funding in the form of guarantees and cash to finalise the sale and invest in the growth of the tour operating division.
The sale enables Western & Oriental to focus on its events business, which reported a £700,000 profit last year on revenues of £13.8 million.