A Devon-based holiday lets firm is to float on the London Stock Exchange as it eyes huge growth post-Covid and entry into an alternative vacation market featuring the likes of treehouses, yurts and glamping.
Travel Chapter, based in Bideford, is a leading online platform for UK holiday rental with a nationwide portfolio of more than 8,000 high-quality properties, on behalf of about 6,200 property owners, including many in the South West.
The firm’s platform connects property-owners with customers and is now the third largest holiday rental agency in the UK by size of property portfolio, listing about 10% of the UK’s agency-managed holiday properties.
The group’s flagship brand, holidaycottages.co.uk, markets all its properties and is supplemented by a network of 33 regional and lifestyle brands targeting a particular customer category, demographic or location.
Travel Chapter, which seeks to differentiate itself from key competitors through the quality and exclusivity of its property portfolio, has now announced its Intention to float on the Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in mid-November 2021.
The company has grown its property portfolio significantly over recent years, both organically and through a number of selective bolt-on acquisitions.
And it has weathered the Covid crisis well with its customer database increasing from about 735,000 in May 2019 to 1.1million in August 2021.
The directors attribute this in part to the growth in a new demographic of customers that has entered the UK holiday rental market for the first-time during the pandemic, in particular younger and more affluent customers.
The company, which employs more than 300 people, reported 2020 turnover of £23.4m even after the Covid pandemic had taken a bite out of earnings.
Its EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization), a measure of profitability, still hit £3.5m even with the Covid issues taken into account.
Travel Chapter intends to continue to leverage its “quality-led proposition, scalable platform, strong market position and increasing brand awareness” to create long term growth in the post-Covid UK holiday rental market and to continue to grow its platform.
In particular, Travel Chapter will focus on driving organic growth in its portfolio of quality properties, supplemented with selective acquisitions.
And while its core growth plans centre around increasing the number and overall quality of the properties on its platform, a number of alternative accommodation and experience-based opportunities in the UK have also been identified which could broaden its offering and appeal. These include camping, glamping and alternative accommodation types, such as treehouses or yurts, as well as experiences and partnerships.
Jayne McClure, chief executive of Travel Chapter, said: “We are delighted to announce our intention to IPO on AIM. This marks the exciting next stage of the Travel Chapter journey as a leading online platform for UK holiday rentals. We have witnessed long term and robust structural tailwinds in domestic tourism in the UK and believe that these are set to continue. Our sector-leading booking platform, owner relationships, customer service and quality-focused property portfolio means we are well placed to continue to grow market share in a fragmented market, both organically and through selective acquisitions.”
