In a trading statement issued this morning, chairman Christopher Egleton reiterated that Minoan’s decision to dispose of its travel arm “has not been taken lightly”.
The group announced last month that an exclusivity agreement had been signed with a preferred buyer and the due diligence process was "proceeding according to plan".
Egleton said he expected the sale to make the group “substantially debt free in relation to its loan obligations” and enable it to concentrate on developing a resort complex on Crete.
Explaining the decision to sell the travel business, Egleton added: “The two main drivers of this decision have been the fact that we were unable to expand the business as fast as we had intended for fear of diluting the group’s capital unnecessarily and, with the advent of the grant of outline planning consent in Greece, the need to concentrate our efforts on creating value without a significant debt overhang with its concomitant costs.
“I very much hope we will be able to report in more detail on this transaction in the near future,” he said.
The update was given as Minoan today reported an increased operating profit of £563,000 for its travel and leisure division for the 12 months to October 2017.
The figure was up from £272,000 during the previous 12 months and came as Minoan reported total transaction value rising by 18% to £80 million.
Detailing the trading year experienced by its travel business, Minoan said it had achieved “noted increases” particularly in its Lapland business, which it revealed had “once again grew far in excess of the average”.
“Cruise continued its growth as planned, although management believe that the rate of growth was slowed by difficulties in the Caribbean cruise market following the devastation to Puerto Rico and a number of destination islands,” the group said.
Minoan added that travel had “continued on its upward trajectory” during 2017.
