German travel and tourism group Tui AG is keeping tight-lipped about its plans for Tui Travel.
Business news agencies Bloomberg and Reuters had reported Tui AG could purchase Tui Travel’s Central European unit which includes Germany, Europe’s biggest travel market.
Central Europe accounted for about one-third of Tui Travel sales last year.
This could be a first step toward a full takeover of the London-listed company in which it has a 56% shareholding.
But Tui AG, reporting third quarter sales of €4.73 billion and underlying earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA) of €102.3 million, did not say anything about its plans for Tui Travel.
Chief financial officer Horst Baier declined to comment on the subject, saying only that Tui AG, which gets a new chief executive next year, has different alternatives and had not yet entered a formal decision-making process.
Tui AG said that Tui Travel may even exceed current expectations should the pound remain strong against the euro.
“Trading for the peak summer season is encouraging and together with positive forex effects, we are confident for the fourth-quarter performance,” Baier told analysts.
Tui Travel said last week that summer holiday bookings had risen as a wet start to the summer tempted northern Europeans to book package holidays.