Cooking with gas: Travel giant wins vote on key disposals

Thomas Cook’s turnaround plans received a significant boost today as shareholders overwhelmingly voted for two key disposals, without which the holiday giant warned it could collapse.

Some 99.99 per cent of proxy shareholder votes backed the planned sale and leaseback of part of its aircraft fleet and the disposal of five Spanish hotels.

Senior independent director Roger Burnell told a meeting of investors in London that the move was “in the best interests of shareholders” as he urged them to vote in favour of the deal.

Major stakeholders including fund manager Invesco, Marathon and Standard Life had previously expressed support for the resolutions.

Failure to support the move could have jeopardised the company’s recent £1.4 billion deal with lenders, including Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays, to extend the maturity of its bank loans to 2015.