FTI says it “is in discussions with investors about injecting new capital to implement its business strategy”. A year ago, FTI had already discussed with investors, notably the Certares fund and the German group Rewe. However, these talks did not produce any results. With the planned entry of an investor, the company is also seeking to end the aid received during the Covid period.
FTI had benefited from a loan of more than 600 million euros
During the pandemic, the German government’s Economic Stabilization Fund had supported the FTI Group with loans and a contribution totaling 603 million euros. Added to this is aid from Spain for the destination management company Meeting Point Spain.
FTI benefited from a market recovery in 2023
This year, the FTI group claims to benefit from the positive development of the market. For the current financial year, which covers the period from November 1, 2022 to October 31, 2023, the group expects a turnover of around 4.1 billion euros. This corresponds to the income from the pre-Corona year 2018/19. Bookings for the upcoming 2023/24 winter season are currently 26% higher than the previous year.
The Sawiris family remains open to partnerships
The Egyptian Sawiris family has held a majority stake of 75.1% in the FTI Group since 2020. In an interview in July, the chairman of the supervisory board, Naguib Sawiris, said he was maintaining FTI as a strong and independent company. But he was also open to partnerships: “If a partner comes forward in general and wants to support FTI with their expertise, their capital or whatever and it can benefit the company, it is my responsibility to look at that. ”
The group’s CEO had expressed his wish to develop IT tools
Karl Markgraf, CEO of the FTI Group, had previously said that the company wanted to invest more in digitalization and new IT systems and that it might need additional capital to do so.
Some information comes from FWW
