The Times - UK (2020-11-14)

56 2GM Saturday November 14 2020 | the times

Business

5

The founder of Hays Travel collapsed

and died yesterday while working

at the company’s head office in

Sunderland.

John Hays, 71, who started the

travel business in 1980 with his wife

and co-owner Irene, 66, was praised

last year when the company saved

thousands of former Thomas Cook

staff from losing their jobs by pur-

chasing all 555 of the collapsed tour

operator’s UK travel agencies.

Hays Travel said in a statement:

the northeast and the city of

Sunderland. Our thoughts are with

his wife Irene, his family and his

friends at this time.”

Mark Tanzer, chief executive of

Abta, the travel trade organisation,

said: “John was a major figure in the

travel industry over many years and

created one of the industry’s most

successful companies.”

Derek Jones, chief executive of

Kuoni, the luxury travel company,

said: “John was an inspiration and a

true legend of the industry, but more

importantly he was a great friend.”

Robert Miller

A

veteran

housebuilder

who once

donated to

the

Conservative Party has

pledged to fight

Robert Jenrick, the

housing secretary, in

court over the decision

to overturn planning

permission for his

development (Louisa

Clarence-Smith writes).

Bob Weston, 65, who

runs Weston Homes, an

Essex-based builder, was

a regular visitor to

Downing Street when

David Cameron and

George Osborne were in

residence and donated

£1,500 in 2007.

Mr Jenrick has

intervened in Mr

Weston’s plans to build

1,250 homes, including a

20-storey tower, a hotel,

cinema and shops, in

Norwich city centre,

above. The Anglia

Square scheme, which

faced opposition from

heritage groups, was

approved by the Labour-

run city council.

A government

planning inspector

recommended that Mr

Jenrick approve the

scheme, but the minister

ruled against it, citing

concerns about the

design of flats and the

harm that they would

cause to the city’s

heritage assets.

Mr Weston accused

the housing secretary

of “choosing to side

with the nimby brigade

... The message it sends
out to all housebuilders
is, ‘Don’t invest, don’t
make planning
applications, don’t plan
for the future because
this Conservative
government doesn’t
support housing or the
economy.’ ”
Weston Homes
reported annual revenue
of £254.3 million and
post-tax profit of
£19.7 million in 2019.
It said it was taking
legal advice so that it
could apply to the High
Court to attempt to get
the decision overturned.
A housing ministry
spokeswoman said:
“After carefully
considering the
evidence, the secretary
of state has concluded
that permission for this
scheme should be
rejected.”

Developer threatens

battle in High Court

ALAMY

Pensionbee set to create

buzz on the stock market

A financial technology company that

has been dubbed “the Monzo of

pensions” is close to appointing

bankers before a flotation in London

set to value it at £300 million or more.

Pensionbee is talking to the

London Stock Exchange about

structuring the float so that it quali-

fies for the exchange’s high-growth

segment of listed companies.

It also has appointed Mary Francis,

a well-known City figure who once

sat on the court of the Bank of

England, as a non-executive director

as it starts to gear up for the initial

public offering.

Romi Savova, Pensionbee’s

founder and chief executive and a

former employee of Morgan Stanley

and Goldman Sachs, said that she was

seeking bank advisers for the float

and hoped to make a firm appoint-

ment by Christmas. Strong perform-

ance recent months had accelerated

her plans to turn Pensionbee into a

public company, she said, adding:

“We’re actively exploring a listing.”

Pensionbee enables customers to

transfer and aggregate legacy pen-

sion pots on to a single, low-cost

platform accessible from a smart-

phone. Customer numbers have risen

from 15,000 to 115,000 in the past two

months and assets under administra-

tion to £1.2 billion. Net operating

losses at Pensionbee doubled in 2019

to £6.86 million.

A listing on the high-growth

segment of the stock exchange could

be seen as a coup, not least because it

is available only to companies

with an expected market value

of £300 million or more. Ms

Savova, 35, said: “I think we

are in that ballpark, based on

previous funding rounds.”

Pensionbee has not dis-

closed a valuation from

past capital-raisings.

Ms Savova is the com-

pany’s biggest shareholder

and she and other col-

leagues own 60 per cent

of the business. State

Street Global Advisors,

giant the investment

manager, has a holding

thought to be less than

10 per cent, while hundreds of angel

investors hold the rest.

The high-growth segment was

launched in 2013, with the stock

exchange hoping to attract fast-

growing corporate stars of tomorrow

by waiving normal free-float rules,

but it has been a flop so far. Entrants

have only 10 per cent of their shares

freely floated, compared with 25 per

cent for a conventional premium

listing. It has one constituent at

present — Matomy, an adver-

tising group, which has lost

95 per cent of its value.

Pensionbee says that

there is a £500 billion

addressable market of

defined-contribution

pension pots that

people own from

past jobs but are too

scared or busy or

daunted by to deal

with.

Ms Francis, 72, a

director of Barclays, is

a former head of the

Association of British

Insurers and was an

adviser to John Major in

Downing Street.

Patrick Hosking Financial Editor

Hays founder dies at 71 while at work

“John built Hays Travel into the UK’s

largest independent travel agent

providing jobs and careers for thou-

sands of young people over 40 years.

Throughout this past difficult year he

did everything in his power to save

jobs and protect the travel industry.”

More than 7,000 people are

employed by the company, which had

turnover above £1 billion in 2018.

Mr Hays was a former vice-chair-

man of Sunderland AFC and was

awarded the freedom of the city in

2016. The football club said in a
      statement: “John was a champion of

Romi Savova is hoping to

float her pension business

on London’s stock market

Dolly Alderton answers all your love, life and

friendship dilemmas every Sunday in Style. With a

digital subscription you also get four updates a day

to read, watch, listen, play, comment and share more.

Get all of The Times and more.

Try free for 30 days at

thetimes.co.uk/subscribe/dolly

Dear Dollys

19 and counting

For full terms and conditions visit thetimes.co.uk/subscribe/dolly