Thu, 05 Jun 2025 | BUSINESS SALE
Hays Travel, a holiday company based in Sunderland, has expanded its business with the acquisition of Essex-based firm Spear Travel Group. The acquisition also includes all of Spear Travel’s branches across the UK.
Spears Travel is headquartered in Upminster, Essex, with 12 branches across the rest of the UK, including offices in Skipton, Stokesley, Wolverhampton, Blanford and Northallerton. The company is a £3.7 million-turnover business which, at the time of its 2024 accounts, had 74 employees.
The acquisition is the first of Hays Travel’s new financial year, coming approximately a year after its takeover of Miles Morgan Travel, a Wales-based business that has recently grown to 20 offices across the UK.
Following the acquisition of Spear Travels, Hays Travel says it has no plans to rebrand the company’s shops, with Hays chair and co-founder Dame Irene Hays praising the company’s expertise.
In its 2024 accounts, Spear Travels said that it was seeing strong consumer confidence in travel and that its biggest growth area during the year was cruises from the UK, followed by river cruises. Spear has also made a number of acquisitions of its own over recent years, acquiring Regent Travel and Regent Tours in 2023, before moving for the database and forward booking of Strachan Travel in November 2024.
Dame Irene Hays said: “Spear Travels is an excellent fit for us - their product mix of land, cruise, and touring holidays aligns with our core objectives, and we have much to learn from each other.”
Dame Hays stated that Spear Travels directors Peter and Libby Cookson and Derek Adams had “built excellent, trusted brands in Spear Travels, Broads Travel, and Regent Travel.”
She continued: "They have a loyal and growing customer base, cared for by great people with exceptional expertise and experience, who we are delighted to welcome into the Hays Travel family.”
Peter Cookson commented: “Naturally selling the business that Libby, Derek and I have worked so hard to build over the past 30 years is a difficult decision. However, we are comforted knowing that our team has found a new work family in Hays Travel. All jobs are safe, and the team now have more opportunities for development and career progression - there will be little disruption to day-to-day activity.”
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