Music festivals operator As You Like It Holidays has been acquired by Scottish travel group Minoan.
Further acquisitions have been signalled as Minoan secured a new loan of £5 million from a Jersey-based investment fund over three years to support further expansion.
As You Like It Holidays managing director Eddie Robb is joining Minoan-owned Stewart Travel to spearhead growth of the brand.
The deal is based purely on results for the next two years and will be a maximum of £200,000.
Consolidation of Minoan’s travel and leisure business in its Glasgow office has now been completed. The new office is equipped to handle gross annual sales of more than £150 million.
The double-digit growth achieved in the year to date will be reflected in the final figures for the current financial year, the company said.
Minoan’s planned resort development in Crete is subject to the finalisation of a strategic environmental assessment (SEA). Its approval is equivalent to the granting of outline planning consent in the UK.
Company chairman Christopher Egleton said: “I am delighted that the group has arranged this facility, which allows us to continue to expand the travel and leisure business and also move the Crete project forward to fruition.
“The facility is divided into two equal tranches and it is unlikely that the second tranche will be drawn down prior to crystallisation of the value of the [Crete] project.”
He added: “The group’s increasingly successful travel and leisure business continues to expand, and following the securing of the relevant funding I hope to be in a position, in the near future, to announce further acquisitions.
“I am aware of the considerable interest in our Crete project from shareholders.
“By its very nature, the preparation of the SEA has taken a great deal of time and expertise on the part of the group and its advisors. I am pleased that the process is now almost complete and, together with my fellow directors, I remain convinced of a successful outcome, which will create substantial value for shareholders.”
He said the board believes Minoan is at a “pivotal and transformational point”.
“With the ability to establish a firm timetable relating to crystallising the value of our Crete project and further potential acquisitions in the travel and leisure business, we are increasingly confident in the group’s prospects and that these will become increasingly clearer and more compelling in the near term,” Egleton added.