Holiday firm plans stock market listing as luxury travel market booms

The British luxury travel agency that offers high-end trips including cruises to the Arctic and Antartica is preparing to join the stock market.

It’s reported that London-based Abercrombie & Kent has started talks about an initial public offering (IPO) in between 18 and 24 months’ time.

The company’s chief executive, Cristina Levis, told the Telegraph that joining the stock market could help Abercrombie & Kent become “the Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy [LVMH] of luxury experiential travel”. 

However, in a potential blow to the London stock exchange market Ms Levis said executives were considering joining the New York stock market rather than pursuing a local listing.

Firm started as luxury camp site in Kenya

Abercrombie & Kent traces its roots to 1962 when Geoffrey Kent set up safari tours and luxury tented camps in Kenya.

The business grew rapidly as an increasing number of tourists visited Africa and in the 1970s the travel company expanded into Egypt, Saudi Arabia and India. It now offers a variety of luxury trips across the world, including cruises in the Arctic.

Kent, 82, still owns a stake in the group alongside Heritage, a Monaco-based private equity firm managed by Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio, an Italian businessman.

Luxury travel still in demand, despite turbulent times

Holidays typically run into the thousands of pounds and can reach into the tens of thousands. Island hopping in the Caribbean costs more than £8,000 for 12 nights, while a seven night trip to the South Pole to see emperor penguins can cost upwards of £85,000 per person.

Despite turbulent economic conditions and geopolitical unrest. the decision to list the company comes on the back of strong demand for luxury travel. 

Ms Levis told the Telegraph: “At the moment, demand is very strong, Our niche has always been very, very resilient – in the toughest moment in history, we have seen a continuous increase in demand.”

Ms Levis added that the company was also seeing a surge in demand for private jet trips because of the rising prices of business class plane tickets which meant that there was less of a differential in price.

Executives have not yet decided where to list Abercrombie & Kent but said New York was appealing because the company is expanding in the US and there are more analysts covering travel businesses there.

“We are still putting everything on a scale to try to understand what’s the best market for us to list”, Ms Levis told the Telegraph, adding that bankers had presented a number of different options including several European stock markets.