Tui mulls fundraising as tough winter looms

SHARES in Tui fell nearly 2pc after the travel titan said it was considering a capital raise to cope with the pandemic’s impact.

However, the company said it would be “significantly lower” than the €1bn (£910m) to €1.5bn mentioned in press reports. The move comes shortly after Tui received a €1.2bn loan from the German government to see it through the tough winter period.

Tui said it was “evaluating various measures to achieve an optimal balance sheet s t r ucture and maturity profile”, with a short to midterm capital raise among the measures being considered.

However, it stressed that no final decisions had yet been made.

Shares closed down 5.8p at 285.4p. They had been trading close to £10 at the start of the year. The company could sell some of its 400 hotels or its Uk-based Marella cruise line to shore up its balance sheet, the Financial Times reported.

Tui will retire one of its Marella ships, leaving four in service and meaning multiple cruises scheduled for next year will be cancelled.

The company has been particularly hard hit by coronavirus, with summer bookings down 83pc compared with last year.

Tui announced plans to axe 8,000 jobs and shut 166 high street stores earlier in the pandemic.

Last week, it made further cuts to winter capacity due to changing restrictions.

Meanwhile, shares in British Airways owner IAG fell 2.5pc despite announcing that it had sold all of the new shares on offer in its €2.7bn capital increase.