Travel Counsellors has been named in the London Stock Exchange ‘1000 Companies to Inspire’, a list of the fastest-growing and most dynamic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Europe.
Run by the UK’s foremost infrastructure and capital markets business, the list recognises Europe’s mid-market private companies with the biggest growth. Travel Counsellors is one of only 12 travel companies to feature, and one of three to be registered in the United Kingdom.
The ranking follows the company’s significant rise in global sales, with total bookings made reaching $604m in the first half of 2018, an increase of 12 per cent from the same period in 2017. This comes as the Travel Counsellors sees its 12th consecutive year of double-digit revenue growth, with average annual turnover growth of 18 per cent over the past five years.
Travel Counsellors was also recently named in The Sunday Times Grant Thornton Top Track 250 league table for the fourth consecutive year in a row, in addition to receiving the BVCA Management Team of the Year for the second successive year.
Steve Byrne, CEO at Travel Counsellors, said: “We are delighted to be recognised in the London Stock Exchange ‘1000 Companies to Inspire Europe’. This growth and success is driven by the exceptional people we have in the company, who place care at the centre of everything they do.
“To build on this growth and the support we provide to our Travel Counsellors, we will continue to invest heavily in our people, attracting and developing the very best talent, underpinned by the technology to enable them to provide their leisure and corporate customers with a truly personalised and authentic travel experience.”
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 $11m 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.
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 London Stock Exchange ‘1000 Companies to Inspire’ lists the fastest-growing and most dynamic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK and Europe. To be included, companies must have demonstrated positive growth over the last three years, while significantly outperforming their peers.
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