Bosses of holidays giant pack their bags

Published on Monday 10 November 2003 00:00

THOMAS Cook, Europe’s second-biggest travel company, has seen its chief executive and finance director quit in the face of poor results expected for the full year.

A spokesman for Lufthansa, which co-owns the firm with retailer KarstadtQuelle, said new top management would be appointed soon and a new budget established to ensure Thomas Cook’s competitive position in the battered tourism industry.

Chief executive Stefan Pichler and chief financial officer Norbert Kickum resigned following a "mutual and amicable agreement with the shareholders".

Last week, KarstadtQuelle dropped its 2003 profit goal, citing weakness at Thomas Cook as the main reason.

"According to the current information, during 2002/2003 as a whole the tourism group will not be able to make up as planned the earnings shortfall recorded after the third quarter," Karstadt said in its third-quarter report.

It is expected that the firm will post a loss for the year to October 31 of about 55 million. That compares with a loss of 13.7m for the same period last year.

One leisure industry analyst said: "It doesn’t look like a well-thought-out decision to me but rather a sign that the shareholders, KarstadtQuelle and Lufthansa, are very disappointed by the results."

Thomas Cook’s supervisory board appointed KarstadtQuelle management board member Peter Gerard as interim chief executive and Lufthansa chief financial officer Karl-Ludwig Kley as Thomas Cook’s interim chief financial officer.

A Lufthansa spokeswoman said the interim appointments underscored the two shareholders’ commitment to the travel group.

Thomas Cook has battled low demand this year as a tough economy, the war in Iraq and the Sars virus kept tourists at home.