Bourne Leisure

Bourne Leisure Holdings Limited
Private
Industry Leisure / Holidays
Founded 1964 (1964) (original predecessor company)
Founder Peter Harris
Headquarters Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, UK
Number of locations
 35+1 Caravan Parks
3 Holiday Parks
13 Leisure Hotels
Area served
 UK
Key people
 Peter Harris (Chairman)
John Dunford
Jane Bentall
Dermot King
Products Holiday Parks
Caravan Parks
Caravan Sales
Leisure Hotels
Revenue Increase£813.7m (group, 2011)[1]
Increase£186.1m (group, 2011)[1]
Increase£71.0m (group, 2011)[1]
Owner First Ovalap Limited (97%)
Number of employees
 11,724 (group, 2011)[1]
Subsidiaries Foray 989 Ltd
> Bourne Leisure Ltd
>> Bourne Holidays Ltd
>> Butlins Skyline Ltd
>> Haven Leisure Ltd
>> Colaingrove Ltd
>>> Bourne Leisure Grp Ltd
>>> Evergreen Finance Ltd
Website www.butlins.com
www.haven.com
www.warnerleisurehotels.co.uk

Bourne Leisure Holdings Limited is a British private company which owns a number of subsidiary undertakings operating in the leisure and holiday sectors in the United Kingdom.

The Guernsey-based fiduciary company, First Ovalap Ltd, is the largest shareholder in Bourne Leisure, representing 97% of the issued share capital and holding 43% of shares with voting rights.[2] Through this the Harris, Cook and Allen families are the joint majority owners. Other members of management, related trusts and banks complete the share register. Peter Harris (the founder of the original company in 1964) is the present company chairman[1] and John Dunford is the director in the leading executive role.[3]

The main trading companies in the Bourne Leisure group in the UK are,

Part of Bodelwyddan Castle Hotel, a Warners Leisure Hotel near Rhyl in north Wales

History

In 1964 accountant Peter Harris, with business partner David Allen, purchased Alberta caravan park in Whitstable, Kent. A few years after this acquisition John Cook joined with Harris and Allen, and in 1972 the three entrepreneurs floated the company, Leisure Caravan Parks, on the London stock exchange.[4] The company was subsequently acquired by Rank in 1975 for £20m. Meanwhile Harris, Cook and Allen started over again with a new set of parks which they then expanded in October 2000 by buying The Rank Group’s holiday business. This purchase included the Haven caravan sites, three Butlins holiday camps, Oasis Holiday Village and Warner Leisure Hotels. The deal cost £700m and was part financed by Legal & General Ventures and Candover.[5][6][7] The business was able to buy out these two private equity firms a few years later.

Following this major expansion of the company some sites were subsequently sold as part of a rationalisaton of the business. In March 2001 seven parks were sold to Premier Dawn for £15m,[8] and soon afterwards Cinque Ports bought nine parks for £28.7m. In May 2001 twelve Haven sites were sold to Park Resorts Ltd, in a management buy-out in partnership with CBPE for £48m. In September 2001, Center Parcs acquired the Oasis Holiday Village, at Whinfell Forest, Cumbria.

In February 2004 LGV and Candover sold their 28% stake back to management in a deal that valued the firm at more than £1 billion. And in October 2004 Bourne sold a package of five sites to Parkdean Holidays for £42m.[9] In November 2004 the company sold its European operation Haven Europe for £250m (now named Siblu Europe).

Company Details

As of 2010, Bourne Leisure employs 5,023 permanent staff, only 5% of whom earn over £35,000 per annum, and the average age of staff is 35.[10]

News

In 2008, Bourne Leisure came in the top 20 of the 100 Best Companies to Work For, a list generated in the UK by The Sunday Times newspaper. In 2009, Bourne Leisure was awarded 2nd place, however, in 2010 this slipped to 9th place.[11]

In June 2011, Bourne Leisure group was ranked 62 in the annual The Sunday Times Top Track 100, which ranks Britain's 100 private companies with the biggest sales.[12][13] This is the ninth year the company has been ranked in the Top Track 100, the highest position reached being 45 in 2006.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Bourne Leisure Holdings Limited, Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2011
  2. ↑ Bourne Leisure Holdings Limited, Annual Return AR01(ef), dated 07/07/2012
  3. ↑ The Andrew Davidson interview: John Dunford, The Sunday Times 22 March 2009
  4. ↑ Goodman, Matthew (11 March 2012). "Happy campers behind Butlins - Goodbye hi-de-hi, hello high life". The Sunday Times (London).
  5. ↑ The Times, October 14, 2000
  6. ↑ Power, Ben (28 September 2000). "Rank says goodbye to redcoats in £700m sale". London: The Independent, 28 September 2000.
  7. ↑ Clark, Andrew (28 September 2000). "Rank takes a gamble on Butlins sale". London: The Guardian, 28 September 2000.
  8. ↑ Reece, Damian (25 March 2001). "Bourne to sell £90m of assets". London: The Telegraph, 25 March 2001.
  9. ↑ The Sunday Telegraph, December 12, 2004
  10. ↑ Best Companies. "Bourne Leisure". bestcompanies.co.uk.
  11. ↑ Best Companies. "2014 Best 100 Not for Profit Companies". bestcompanies.co.uk.
  12. ↑ The Sunday Times, London, June 26, 2011
  13. ↑ "Fast Track in association with The Sunday Times".

External links

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