Rainbow Tours from Lodz, one of Poland’s ten largest travel agents, is planning an IPO.
“We have submitted an issue prospectus at the Commission of Financial Supervision. We expect the approval within 2-3 weeks”, Remigiusz Talarek, Rainbow Tours deputy CEO and the head of marketing, said.
The company wants to issue shares constituting 20 percent of capital which today amounts to PLN 1m (EUR 262,000). The travel agent hopes to close the offer till the middle of August. It wants to raise PLN 18-24m on the stock exchange.
“Big part of the funds will be spent to develop our Ukrainian company registered in 2006 and launched in March 2007. We would like to increase its capital from EUR 200,000 to EUR 2m and develop the network of local offices from one to six at the end of this year”, Rainbow Tours deputy CEO said.
PLN 9m will be spent to acquire a smaller rival from Poland.
“Talks are going on. We are interested in a company specialized in the directions we are not strong at”, Remigiusz Talarek revealed.
Rainbow Tours wants to increase the number of its Polish offices from 22 to 30-32. Next year, advertising costs will increase substantially. All these steps should increase sales.
“We plan a 50-60 percent growth”, the company’s representative said.
Last year, Rainbow Tours had PLN 109m of sales, or 33 percent more than in 2005. Net income grew from PLN 1.8m to over PLN 4m. The company increased the number of clients from 50,000 to 75,000 last year. Part of the funds raised on the WSE will be invested in the tourist portal www.wyruszamy.pl.
Out of companies connected with the tourist sector, two plan an IPO, including a TV channel Podroze TV owned by Triada travel agent and Capital Partners fund (within 18 months) and Easygo portal (in 2008). Travelplanet.pl, a portal selling offers of different travel agents, is already listed as well as Orbis – both a hotel operator and a travel agent.
“Rainbow Tours has been the member of the Polish Chamber of Tourism (PIT) for many years. The company has numerous awards. I hope other companies will follow”, Jan Korsak, PIT CEO said.
“This is a very profitable sector. I believe, Rainbow Tours will raise as much money as it plans”, Michal Marczak from DI BRE commented.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.262)