FIRST Choice is to build a retail network with the equivalent of 1,200 shops by the end of next year under the branding Travel Choice.
The new name was unveiled at the operator’s annual general meeting in London, where the operator also announced the acquisition of Rainbow Holidays (see page 3).
Travel Choice will be rolled out from May 1 with 50 greenfield sites opening within two months.
The Bakers Dolphin brand will be retained but 32-strong Essex chain Intatravel, which First Choice acquired in November for ú8m, will be rebranded Travel Choice by the end of the year.
It will also have 31 shops within ASDA under the branding Travel Choice Express.
Group managing director Peter Long said the retail chain would have the equivalent of 300 shops by the end of June, 650 by the end of the year and 1,200 by the end of 2000.
The figure includes Holiday Hypermarkets – which will number 20 by the end of 1999 with a further two planned for early 2000 – each of which is the equivalent of 15 agencies.
“The Bakers Dolphin name is strong and will continue to expand but research showed Intatravel was not widely recognised by consumers,” said Long.
He said the new branding was reached after exhaustive research during which 140 names were discussed.
First Choice chairman Ian Clubb predicted the network would sell 20% of group sales, rising to 40% in two years.
“We recognised we had a strategic weakness in not having a high street presence and have solved it,” he said.
Meanwhile, small shareholders at the AGM broadly welcomed the proposed merger between First Choice and Kuoni.
Philip Rose, who bought 1,500 shares 12 years ago, said: “On the face of it this looks a good deal. It takes First Choice into more than 12 European countries in one fell swoop.”
Another shareholder, Andrew Moffat, added: “We’ve seen a healthy rise in share prices recently and I expect that to continue.” But the City complained the deal offered few cost savings and was disappointed that so far no rival bidders had come in for First Choice. Clubb and Long denied the City was unconvinced by the deal and Clubb said it was vital any deal was not referred to competition regulators which he claimed would almost certainly have happened had Airtours or Thomas Cook made a bid.
“We would have been hung out to dry while any deal was investigated which would have caused untold damage to the group,” he said.
It will take almost three months for the deal to be either accepted or rejected by shareholders.
First Choice/Kuoni merger: Analysis, page 6; City and independent view, page 11; Clipboard, page 91