THOMSON Travel Group has further strengthened its distribution with the ú17m purchase of 34-shop Newcastle-based miniple Callers-Pegasus.
The acquisition is the latest move in a trend by the major operators to ensure they have guaranteed distribution for theirproducts.
One industry expert said the buying spree was not over.
“The big companies want to control as many travel agents as they can and are prepared to wave their chequebooks,” he said.
Other targets for the major operators include Burnley-based Althams Travel, Newcastle-based Dawson and Sanderson, and Swansea-based Travel House, as exclusively reported by Travel Weekly last week.
Bournemouth-based Bath Travel is also an attractive target but joint managing director Stephen Bath has always insisted the company is not for sale.
Thomson will keep the Callers-Pegasus brand and all its 250 staff.
The retailer will be run as a separate company, but Thomson will use the buying power of current in-house retailer Lunn Poly to secure better deals for the miniple.
Thomson chief executive Paul Brett said discussions with Callers-Pegasus had been on-going for the past few weeks but denied it had paid a high price for a retailer, which made ú1.1m profit on commission earnings of ú7.1m in the year to October 31 1998.
“The company has an excellent reputation and I think we’ve paid a fair price,” said Brett.
He added Callers-Pegasus was already a strong supporter of Thomson but declined to speculate on how many more bookings the retailer would now do for the operator.
Callers-Pegasus was set up 35 years ago by Ian and Roy Caller. The Callers, who are retired from the business, owned the majority of the shares, with a small share was owned by managing director Bill Shaw.
Shaw will now report to Thomson business development director Nigel Cleevely.
Callers-Pegasus sales director David Ellis said the deal provided security for the staff and the companies were a natural fit.
Callers Pegasus sold around 200,000 packages in the year to October 31. In addition to its holiday shops Callers Pegasus runs a flight centre in Newcastle called Courtney Airsavers, a telesales unit and a small Jersey operator, Focus Holidays.