First Choice is to spend £60m on a three-year investment programme to open more than 700 travel agencies. It will be the first time that the tour operator has ventured into the travel agency market.
It is buying Bakers Dolphin, a chain of 52 travel agencies in the South West for £12m. And it is paying £2.6m for minority stakes in Hays Travel in the North East and Holiday Express in Wales.
The company also said it would spend up to £15m on a 25% stake in Holiday Hypermarkets as well as open 50 high street shops in the South East.
Financial Times 29/10/98 page 20 (Lex), page 21, page 22
The Times 29/10/98 page 30
The Guardian 29/10/98 page 25
The Independent 29/10/98 page 20
The Daily Telegraph 29/10/98 page 41
