Tui AG has no plans for a full takeover of subsidiary Tui Travel, according to its chief financial officer.
Horst Baier said: “We have always said that we want to strengthen our tourism operations.
“However, there are no plans to go down the road at this time for a clear takeover of Tui Travel.”
He was speaking after the German travel group confirmed plans to sell off its shareholding in container shipping business Hapag-Lloyd.
The company confirmed that its first quarter performance for the three months to December was impacted by a decline in demand for North African destinations but there were higher bookings to the Canary Islands and the Caribbean.
Overall seasonal losses widened to €147.3 million from a loss of €119.6 million in the same period a year earlier.
“While the prior year quarter was not yet affected by the political unrest in North Africa, the decline in demand for destinations in Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco had an adverse impact on earnings in the first quarter of 2011/12, as expected, resulting in an effect of €30 million,” the company said.
“At an overall good business performance, the Tui Group’s seasonally negative operating earnings thus decreased by €27.7 million to -€147.3 million in the first quarter of 2011/12.”