Ninan Chacko, chief executive of the US giant, told TTG it would “ramp up our focus in the UK” following its takeover of the Scottish agency chain. The group also has luxury agency Colletts Travel in its portfolio, after acquiring it last year.

Chacko said Travel Leaders would “without doubt undertake a mix of small, medium and larger acquisitions” in the future, adding: “We certainly are in talks, a number of them; none I would characterise as later stage at this point.”

He added that Travel Leaders had grown “very comfortable with the notion of having a retail presence” since working with the Munro family. Bill Munro is chairman of Barrhead and Sharon Munro chief executive.

“I have every expectation that Barrhead will thrive,” he added. “And particularly if Sharon sees opportunities where we can grow that retail presence, or something independently comes up that’s good business, then with the Barrhead acquisition the success and confidence will continue to grow, [and we can look at] how that might contribute to our UK portfolio.”

He added that the Barrhead Travel name would remain and Travel Leaders was not “under any illusions of having our name plastered over the high street”.