A renewed bout of optimism about the prospects for Thomas Cook helped to send the travel group’s share price off to considerably sunnier climes late last week. While the shares were off again yesterday, down 2½p to 52p, the stock jumped in value by a fifth over Thursday and Friday.
The shares have had an appalling year, losing more than half of their worth since January. This is mainly due to poorly received first-half earnings in May and a stinker of a profit warning in September that renewed concerns about margins and the outlook for bookings.
Thomas Cook’s balance sheet also remains under scrutiny. It is capable of deteriorating rapidly due to the nature of the travel business, where payments for holidays do not always