Wednesday, December 17: The merger of British tour operator TUI Travel and its German parent company, TUI AG, completed today creating TUI Group (LON:TUIJ), the world's largest leisure and tourism company. As of today, TUI Group shares are listed with the ticker symbol TUIJ on the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market. They are also included in the FTSE UK indices, and the premium FTSE 100 index.

TUI Group is the world’s number one integrated tourism business. From now on, the broad portfolio gathered under the Group umbrella will consist of strong tour operators, 1,800 travel agencies and leading online portals, six airlines more than 130 aircraft, over 300 hotels with 210,000 beds, twelve cruise liners and countless incoming agencies in all major holiday destinations around the globe. This integrated offering will enable us to provide our 30 million customers with an unmatched holiday experience in 180 regions. A key feature of our corporate culture is our global responsibility for economic, environmental and social sustainability. This is reflected in more than 20 years of commitment to sustainable tourism. In 2013/14 financial year the TUI Group with a headcount of 77,000 recorded turnover of €18.7 bn and an operating result of €869m. The TUI Group’s share is listed on the London Stock Exchange in the FTSE index and in the regulated market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

http://www.tuigroup.com/en



Link to the TUI TRAVEL thread before the merger.

http://www.moneyam.com/InvestorsRoom/posts.php?tid=16836#lastread




Calendar


10 February 2015 Annual General Meeting
February 2015 First Quarter Report 2014/15
May 2015 Half-Year Report 2014/15
August 2015 Interim Report 9 month 2014/15
December 2015 Annual Report 2014/15

Reasons for the Merger

http://www.tuigroup.com/en/investors/about-merger

Barclays Capital Overweight 1,087.50 1,090.00 - 1,320.00 Initiates/Starts

22 Dec Deutsche Bank 1,320.00 Buy

Sharecast = TUI continues to face non-negligible risks in the form of a higher pound and continuing overcapacity in the airline industry. However, the firm is holding out the promise of €170m in merger benefits. Indeed, the nil-premium merger between TUI Travel and its German majority shareholder, TUI, will lead to the creation of a company that will dominate its sector. Worth pointing out, the balance sheet will be extraordinarily strong. Once an online accomodation business and its 22% stake in Hapag-Lloyd container shipping are disposed of the firm may be left with €2.5bn of cash on its hands. Then there is the stock´s 6.2% dividend yield. The shares are worth holding even if only for that income, Tempus says.

Get packing...travel companies start luxury holiday price war: Thomson and Thomas Cook go head to head to tempt families into breaks in Miami, Mexico and Mauritius
Holiday giants Thomson and Thomas Cook are putting luxury long haul holidays to the likes of Mauritius and Miami at heart of New Year price war
Teletext Holidays bringing in extra staff to cope with bookings this week

By Sean Poulter, Consumer Affairs Editor For The Daily Mail

Published: 00:21, 26 December 2014 | Updated: 12:52, 26 December 2014

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2887288/Get-packing-travel-companies-start-luxury-holiday-price-war-Thomson-Thomas-Cook-head-head-tempt-families-breaks-Miami-Mexico-Mauritius.html

Holiday bookings rocket as chilly Britons plan escapes to the sun - and trips to Tenerife are in hot demand after Birds of a Feather Christmas special
Thomson and First Choice report record numbers of searches over Christmas and Boxing Day
Dalaman in Turkey was the most searched for destination
Tenerife proved popular after the Canary Islands featured in a Birds of a Feather Christmas special



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/holidays/article-2892451/Holiday-bookings-rocket-chilly-Britons-plan-escapes-sun-trips-Tenerife-hot-demand-Birds-Feather-Christmas-special.html

Tour operators ordered to cut the cost of package holidays after dramatic fall in oil price made flights and coaches cheaper
Lib Dem Danny Alexander writes to travel companies to demand price cuts
Price of oil has fallen to a six-year low, leading to sharp falls in petrol
But few holiday companies have reduced costs of travel and flights



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2908167/Tour-operators-ordered-cut-cost-package-holidays-dramatic-fall-oil-price-flights-coaches-cheaper.html

15 Jan Credit Suisse 1,275.00 Outperform

26 Jan Nomura 1,344.00 Buy

4 Feb Deutsche Bank 1,320.00 Buy
4 Feb JP Morgan... 1,325.00 Overweight

Tuesday's agenda - TUI travels onto radar
By Giles Gwinnett
February 09 2015, 8:00pm
Tuesday's agenda - TUI travels onto radar


Travel giant (LON:TUI) will fly onto the radar Tuesday with first quarter numbers.

The huge group was formed from the merger of London-listed TUI travel and the German majority owner TUI AG in December 2014.

It has plans to bundle airline operations and the market will be intererested to hear on developments on this.

Prior to its union in December, the old TUI delivered a 3% rise in pre-tax profits for the year to end September, 2014.

The Thomson and First Choice operator posted a £475mln underlying profit before tax for the year to September, slightly higher than the £461mln it made in 2013.

Revenue for the year was £14.6bn, down 3% on last year's £15bn, which was blamed on an "adverse foreign currency translation impact".

Performance in the UK, Netherlands and Germany picked up while its French tour operator halved its losses.

Weakness in the Nordics in the first half of the year held things back, along with tougher trading conditions in Russia and Ukraine.

Shares have had a reasonable run in the last month, rising around 3%.

1st Quarter Results

HIGHLIGHTS

· 15% improvement in the underlying operating result1, excluding profit on sale of Riu Waikiki
· Travel (formerly TUI Travel) result in line with our expectations
· Hotels & Resorts (formerly TUI Hotels & Resorts) and Cruises delivered a significant increase in profitability, including the profit on sale of a hotel
· Pleased with overall trading to date for Winter 2014/15 and Summer 2015
· Post-merger integration underway - delivery of synergies will commence during this financial year
· Mainstream strategy is progressing, from growing profitability to profitable top-line growth
· Evaluating options to manage Non-Mainstream for growth and value
· Confident of delivering full year underlying operating profit growth of 10% to 15% at constant currency1

Sharecast -TUI Group confident of 10%-15% growth as merger cruises to serene start

Tue, 10 February 2015


TUI Group confident of 10%-15% growth as merger cruises to serene start



TUI Group, the holiday giant formed when London's Tui Travel merged with its German sister company in December, has sailed off to an encouraging start to 2015 buoyed by a "significant" increase in profitability in ocean cruises, hotels and resorts.
Thanks to the successful launch in the first quarter and benefits from the merger on the horizon for this year, the FTSE 100 company said it was "confident of delivering full year underlying operating profit growth of 10% to 15%".

In the first quarter, revenue swelled to €3.54bn, up 5.4% from the restated combined results of the two companies, with group underlying operating losses reduced by €33m to €108m, not including a €5m currency loss or a €16m profit on sale of the Riu Waikiki hotel in Gran Canaria.

The strong performance from hotels & resorts was driven by improved yield performance, while the cruises unit returned to profitability thanks in part to strong growth at TUI Cruises, while the tour operating business was broadly flat.

The wholesale accommodation business continued to outperform the market, with 24% growth in total transaction values (TTV) for this summer driven by growth in Asia, Latin America and the USA.

Overall, mainstream holiday performance during the quarter was in line with internal expectations, with the strategy having been developed from a focus on "growing profitability" to a new aim for "profitable top-line growth".

In non-mainstream, the group said it was now "evaluating our options to manage these businesses for growth and value", with a likely initial public offer (IPO) or trade sale for part-owned shipping and cruises business Hapag-Lloyd.

The current booking position appeared to be good, with 84% of the winter programme sold at higher selling prices in most source markets, although the group is reported to be experiencing margin pressure in Germany

For summer 2015, TUI is pleased with trading to date, though mainstream bookings are down 1%, with approximately 32% of the programme sold, in line with prior year, with average selling prices up 1%. Winter trading is similar in terms of customer numbers.

Tui's joint chief executives, Friedrich Joussen and Peter Long, said: "We are delighted to announce our first set of results as TUI Group, having delivered 15% improvement in the underlying operating result. This reflects a significant increase in profitability in hotels & resorts and cruises.

"The Travel result is in line with our expectations. We have continued to grow unique holidays and online bookings across all key source markets and expect to deliver growth in the underlying operating result in the remainder of the year."

Analysts at Shore Capital were reassured by the first statement post the merger and by the pursuit of profitable top-line growth.

"We suspect that the 7-10% annual profit growth from Travel out to 2017 could prove stronger for longer."

They added: "During the year we would expect progress on implementing merger synergies, exiting Hapag-Lloyd AG and delivering value from non-core assets.

"We have set out a roadmap for some circa €2 per share of earnings by 2020. Including cash returns this could equate to at least €24 per share by the end of the decade. We see today's update as a milestone on this journey."

18 Mar Morgan Stanley 1,370.00 Overweight
18 Feb Deutsche Bank N/A Buy

On Wednesday, travel group TUI sends out an update.

There will be a particular focus on the level of growth in selling prices and the performance of the higher margin “unique” holiday offerings, reckons broker The Share Centre, given the group’s target of 10%-15% growth in operating profit for the full year.

The market will also be interested in how the integration of TUI travel and TUI AG is progressing and the latest assessment of the potential synergies and opportunities resulting from the combination.




http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/market_reports/78515/week-ahead-brave-new-world-for-ftse-100-wolseley-tui-easyjet-update--0000.html

24 Mar Credit Suisse 1,275.00 Outperform

Trading statement

Highlights



Pleased with Mainstream trading



· Winter 2014/15 closing out as expected, with higher average selling prices in most source markets, up 1% overall.



· Pleased with Summer 2015 - bookings up 1% and average selling prices up 1%:

o Demand for our unique holidays continues to rise, accounting for 74% of Summer bookings to date, up three percentage points on prior year.

o Strong growth in online bookings, up 12% on prior year.






//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


TUI Group on track to hit profit targets

By Andrew Neil

March 25 2015, 7:45am
The company, the world's largest leisure tourism group which competes against Thomas Cook, is due to publish its first-half results in May.


Travel firm TUI Group told investors it’s on track to grow its full-year operating profit by between 10 and 15%, helped by a rise in online holiday bookings.

The company, formed in December from the merger of London-listed TUI travel and German majority owner TUI AG, also said that its first half-result this year will beat last year’s.

In an update, the business said online bookings are up 12% on the prior year, while average holiday selling prices are up 1%.

Summer bookings are up 1% on the previous period, helped by demand for its unique holidays, which account for 74% of summer packages to date.

The Hotels & Resorts business is performing well, according to the business, with improved occupancy rates and yield while cruise sales continue to grow.

In February, TUI Group performed in line with expectations 23.5% jump in EBITDA in its first quarter, and a 5.4% jump in revenues - in line with expectations.

The company, the world's largest leisure tourism group which competes against Thomas Cook, is due to publish its first-half results in May.

dc,

I have amended the epic in the thread header as per your request,

Ian

Cheers Ian

1 Apr Deutsche Bank 1,375.00 Buy