On The Beach has recorded exceptional growth since it was founded as a sister company to an industry giant in 2004.
The Manchester-headquartered online travel business is one of only five tech unicorns to be based in the city and completed an IPO in 2015.
Having been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, CEO and founder Simon Cooper is leading the firm's fightback and is aiming to grow the company like never before.
READ MORE: Online travel company On The Beach raises £26m to help shore up finances
With new jobs on the horizon, On The Beach is hoping for its most exciting period yet.
But how much do you know about the travel giant? Below, BusinessLive tells you all you need to know.
In the beginning
The first group company was established by Simon Cooper in the early 2000s and became a trading subsidiary of On the Beach Limited in 2008.
Mr Cooper was also a founder of On the Beach Ltd (formerly known as On the Piste Travel Ltd) which was incorporated in 1996.
The group initially operated on a digital platform operated by Teletext Holidays, with bookings being taken via a call centre.
In October 2004, the group launched its first 'static' website to show hotels to prospective customers.
It then began to develop an offers based website providing dynamically packaged holidays, which launched in September 2005.
At this stage, the group had access to a single hotel-aggregator (known as a 'bed-bank') and one provider of flight data. During this time, its call centre function expanded rapidly.
Time for investment
In 2007, Livingbridge acquired a majority stake in the group for £36m.
Following the investment, the executive and senior management team of OTB grew and the proportion of online bookings increased.
By 2011, approximately 79% of the group's bookings were made online, with the remainder being made via the call centre.
OTB then launched its own proprietary technology platform to enable the group to aggregate, filter and enrich data with speed and efficiency.
It also acquired assets from ResortTaxis.com out of administration for approximately £10,000 to assist with transporting holidaymakers in Egypt, Turkey, The Balearics, The Canaries, mainland Spain, Greece and the Algarve.
In October 2013, Inflexion Equity Partners indirectly acquired a majority stake in OTB from Livingbridge on the basis of an enterprise value of £73m.
Inflexion's investment has allowed the group to improve its revenue by developing and optimising its technology platform across multiple devices, growing its direct contracting system, maximising brand awareness by continuing to invest in online and now TV advertising, expanding its offering of holiday ancillaries.
Further expansion and IPO
In early 2015, the group launched an international platform in Sweden under the "ebeach.se" domain name.
On 28 September 2015, On the Beach listed on the London Stock Exchange.
In late 2016, the group furthered its expansion into the Scandinavian market with the launch of the "ebeach.no" domain for Norway.
In 2017 the group completed its first significant acquisition. Sunshine.co.uk Ltd, an online travel agent based in the UK, was acquired in May for a net consideration of £12m.
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OTB entered the FTSE 250 in March 2018 and in the summer made its second significant acquisition, acquiring Classic Collection Holidays for a consideration of £20m in August 2018.
The group also completed its Scandinavian rollout in 2018, with the launch of eBeach.dk in Denmark.
Simon Cooper
Simon Cooper is the founder and chief executive of On the Beach.
He began his career in the travel industry while attending university when he founded ski holiday company On the Piste Travel Ltd in 1996, which went on to be purchased by Thomson (now TUI) in 2008.
On the Beach was created in 2004 as a sister company, specialising in beach holidays and running on a platform operated by Teletext Holidays, with bookings taken via a call centre.
Mr Cooper led the business through its IPO in 2015.
He is also a non-executive director of CurrentBody.com Ltd.
The executive team
Shaun Morton is the chief financial officer. He joined as director of finance in February 2018 and dealt with the failure of Thomas Cook, the acquisition of Classic Collection and the delivery of the Group’s share placing and CLBILS facility.
Prior to joining On the Beach, he held senior finance roles at Deloitte, Asda and ghd hair where he was director of finance for the group.
Stefan Nordin is the chief technology officer and joined in October 2018.
He was previously CTO at Betsson Group, one of the world’s largest gaming businesses, where he held a number of senior roles within the company’s technology division, including chief architect and CTO of the online business before taking on roles as head of development then head of delivery for the wider group.
William Allen is the chief supply officer with responsibility for all sourcing and operations of accommodation, flight, transfer and ancillary suppliers including the group's direct contracting system.
Previously, he was managing director at bedbank, On Holiday Group, and overseas purchasing director for MyTravel UK.
The executive team is also made up of Kirsteen Vickerstaff, general counsel and company secretary, Oliver Garner, CEO Classic Collection Holidays & Classic Package Holidays, Adam Hansen, director of corporate development, and Zoe Harris, chief marketing officer.
The boardroom
CEO Simon Cooper and CFO Shaun Morton are also members of OTB's board which is chaired by Richard Pennycook.
He joined on April 1, 2019, and was previously CEO of The Co-operative Group from 2013 to 2017.
He was also non-executive chairman of The Hut Group from 2012 to 2018.
The board's three non-executive directors are David Kelly, Elaine O’Donnell and former Government minister Justine Greening.
Who owns On The Beach?
According to OTB's website, and correct to the end of July 2021, the largest single shareholder is Mawer Investment Management.
The second largest is BlackRock with Axa Framlington Investment Managers is third.
Simon Cooper is the fourth largest single shareholder, just ahead of M&G Investment Management.
