Travel Counsellors has been named in The Sunday Times UK Grant Thornton Top Track 250 league table, in recognition of the company’s significant sales growth over the last 12 months.
This is the fourth consecutive year the independent global travel company has been listed in the top 250, a prestigious ranking of Britain’s mid-market growth private companies with the biggest sales. Travel Counsellors has climbed the rankings each year, securing a position of No.121 in the latest edition, up from its place at 125 in 2017.
The ranking recognises the company’s significant rise in global sales, with total bookings made reaching AU$610m in the first half of 2018, an increase of 12 per cent from the same period in 2017.
Steve Byrne, CEO at Travel Counsellors, said: “It’s a fantastic accolade for Travel Counsellors to be named in the Sunday Times Top Track 250 again, and we are extremely proud to be featured for the fourth time in as many consecutive years. It’s testament to our unwavering focus on customer care, building trusted relationships and creating outstanding leisure and corporate travel experiences for our travellers, that we surpassed our AU$930m sales milestone last year, and achieved AU$610m in sales in the first half of 2018 alone.
“We truly take pride in putting people at the heart of our business, which includes our customers, over 1800 individual Travel Counsellors who care for them, and our support teams in seven countries across the globe. We’re highly committed to ongoing growth of the company through attracting and developing the very best talent to Travel Counsellors, and investing in our technology platform to provide personal, bespoke travel experiences for our customers.”
Founded in Manchester in 1994, Travel Counsellors has grown to become a global travel company, providing bespoke holiday and corporate travel packages to over 450,000 customers annually. Currently over 1,800 Travel Counsellors manage their own home-based businesses with the global support of a 400 strong head office team.
In June, the company completed a secondary buyout backed by Vitruvian Partners. The transaction, which resulted in an exit for Equistone Partners Europe, sees the business continue to invest heavily in its in-house technology platforms, with more than £6m set aside to spend on IT developments and upgrades in 2018. Matt Davies, the ex-UK chief of Tesco, was appointed the non-executive chairman of Travel Counsellors in September, coinciding with the company’s 12th consecutive year of double-digit revenue growth, with average annual turnover growth of 18 per cent over the past five years.
In 2017, the company was awarded the Best Customer Focus Award in the UK National Business Awards, and has been named in the Sunday Times HSBC International Track six times, including in each of the last three years.
The Sunday Times Grant Thornton Top Track 250 league table ranks Britain’s mid-market growth private companies with the greatest sales, compiled for its 14th annual edition by Fast Track and published in The Sunday Times in October. To be included, companies must have operating margins that exceed two per cent; and sales must also be growing year-on-year by five per cent or more for the highest turnover companies.
.jpg){kind=tracking}
