Luxury specialist agency Holidaysplease is looking to hire up to 20 homeworkers and acquire some small agencies after a management buyout.
Charles Duncombe, Richard Dixon and Sonia Dixon now own Holidaysplease after buying out former co-owner Bobbie Bhogal’s stake. The trio have also sold all their shares in parent group Just Say Please Ltd.
Holidaysplease is no longer part of the Just Say Please group, which still includes Tightsplease.co.uk and Lingerieplease.co.uk, founded by Duncombe, although it will continue to share its offices.
The trio pursued the buyout, worth about £1 million, to focus completely on the travel business, and plan to recruit 10-20 staff, as well as look to acquire small agencies in Birmingham, either as a purchase or a joint venture.
Duncombe, who said the co-owners had been discussing the move for the past six months, said: “As there were so many businesses in the group, we found that we were all doing lots of different things for lots of different parts of the group.
“There was always a danger of being a Jack of all trades, master of none.
“We wanted to focus our time on specific parts of the business and decided we wanted to focus on Holidaysplease.”
According to Duncombe, Holidaysplease beat its target of selling £10 million worth of holidays last year, and is aiming to top £15 million in 2013.
He added: “So far it seems to be working really well. Hopefully, I have backed the right horse.”
Duncombe said Holidaysplease had reported its best ever booking month, with January sales up 9% on last year.
The luxury specialist’s average selling price has risen from £3,500 to £4,000 over the past 18 months.