Tui board recommends delisting from London Stock Exchange in major blow
The board of the travel giant TUI has recommended delisting the company from the London Stock Exchange in yet another blow to the embattled bourse.
TUI currently holds a dual listing in Frankfurt and London. Its board said in a statement there had been “significant liquidity migration from England to Germany in recent years, with more than 75 per cent of trading in TUI shares taking place directly via the German share register.”
The group, which is Europe’s biggest travel operator, said it had been asked by investors whether the current dual stock exchange listing was still optimal for the company considering this shift or whether a simplification would be “advantageous.”
The company first proposed the changes at the beginning of December.
Shareholders will vote on the proposals at the next annual general meeting on 13 February. If the proposal is approved, Tui will leave the London bourse in June. Its existing listing in Frankfurt would remain unchanged under the current proposal.
Should TUI depart the London Stock Exchange it would be seen as a significant blow for the market following a year to forget. Gambling giant Flutter completed a secondary listing in New York early last year, while Plus500 and YouGov are also publicly considering moves to the US.
Mathias Kiep, CFO of TUI, said: “Terminating the listing in London would offer clear advantages for investors and the company: Simplification of structures, improvement in liquidity and indexation as well as benefits for the EU ownership of our airlines.”
“On this basis and after intensive analysis, we recommend that our shareholders vote in favour of the proposed resolution at the upcoming Annual General Meeting. However, in the best sense of an Annual General Meeting, it remains the decision of our shareholders.”
The Hanover-headquartered firm enjoyed a bumper 2023, as travel demand bounced back from years of Covid-induced lows. It has forecast a quarter jump in operating profits in 2024, despite headwinds from wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and a challenging macroeconomic backdrop.