Ticket agency sold by Holidaybreak
HOLIDAYBREAK has raised nearly £11m to reduce its debt through the sale of its subsidiary company West End Theatre Bookings.
The Cheshire company, which operates its Hotel Breaks division from York, has sold the specialist London theatre ticket agency for £10.9m in cash to Encore Tickets, a multi-channel theatre booking business.
The sale price represents a multiple of 9.7-times EBITDA for West End Theatre Bookings’ financial year ended 30 September 2010.
In its most recent financial year (September 30 2010) West End Theatre Bookings made an operating profit of £1m on revenue of £20.3m. Gross assets were £4.7m.
Martin Davies, chief executive of Holidaybreak, said: “We are pleased to announce this transaction which we believe represents the best value for our shareholders.
“The sale demonstrates our commitment to strengthen the Education share of the Group as part of our longer term growth strategy to become the leading educational travel provider in Europe.
“At the same time, we are saddened to see West End Theatre Bookings leave the Holidaybreak Group but we believe Encore Tickets, a leading ticket agency, will provide a good home with both businesses strategically focused on providing theatre tickets to the consumer.”
Holidaybreak owns educational holiday specialist PGL as well as Eurocamp and Keycamp the self-drive camping brands.
