Gray Dawes Travel
2024 sales: $668 million
Previous ranking: Not ranked
Employees: 425 full-time, 85 part-time
The Octagon, Colchester
Essex, CO1 1TG, U.K.
Phone: (800) 544-1222
Website
$668 millionNot ranked425 full-time, 85 part-timeThe Octagon, ColchesterEssex, CO1 1TG, U.K.Phone: (800) 544-1222
Executives
CEO: Suzanne Horner
COO: David Bishop
CCO: Warren Dix
CFO: Richard Allardice
CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER: Sophie Taylor
CHIEF CUSTOMER OFFICER, U.S.: Carolann Martini
SVP (FLORIDA AND LATIN AMERICA): Olga Ramudo
COMPANY FACTS
* Subsidiary of Inchcape Family Estates.
* Specializes in corporate, marine, government and sports sectors with wholly owned offices in the U.S., U.K., Australia and the Netherlands.
* Owns General Wholesale Travel & Tour.
* Works with 20 independent contractors.
* 2% of sales completed by hosted advisors.
* Sales: 90% business, 5% leisure, 5% other.
DEVELOPMENTS
* Invested heavily in its implementation team with enhanced processes and tools. The creation of unique customer landing pages, incorporating entire libraries of personalized video tutorials and content, has accelerated client onboarding by 45%.
* Invested in its customer-facing portal, a personalized travel management platform in which travelers, travel arrangers and travel managers can access the company's tools and technologies, including traveler profiles, trip information, online booking and duty of care information.
LOOKING AHEAD
* Increasing its global footprint with strategic growth in the U.S. and Asia Pacific.
* Continuing the global rollout of its single tech stack platform, built around the ongoing development of its portal and supporting its online booking tool, YourTrip, and traveler tracking tool, TripSure.
* Consolidating its global data management via YourData, enriched by Microsoft PowerBI, for tailored analysis and travel program optimization.
* Cautiously exploring the role of AI across its business, where it can support its high-touch service delivery model. Launching an AI-powered concierge this year to sell rooms to its travelers who already have flights booked. The company's first AI-assisted bot to directly support client inquiries is expected in 2026.
* Continuing to focus on equality, diversity and inclusion as well as enhanced traveler experience initiatives, including blended travel programs; hyper-personalized experiences; and products and growth in traveler tracking, safety and security.
* Among trends the company recognizes: travel managers' widening responsibilities and expanding skill set across technology, meetings, expense management and corporate payment. Issues include obtaining greater exposure to employee needs and insight into improving the traveler experience; gaining efficiencies across interconnected disciplines (travel, expense management, meetings, events); and leveraging data analytics and technology to negotiate better rates with suppliers.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
10 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Scottish Widows owes it to the UK taxpayer to invest in British companies
The cost to the Treasury of the generous tax relief afforded our pensions is about £50 billion a year. Should pensions get that tax break from the UK government if the funds won't even invest in the UK? The question arises following a recent move by Scottish Widows, a giant fund group that manages assets of £225 billion and is part of Lloyds Bank, which was bailed out by the government to the tune of £20 billion during the 2008 financial crash. We got most of that bail out back, eventually, but still, it owes us. Morally and actually. And the government is desperate for pension funds to put more money into UK equities, to support growth, the economy and as a show of faith. Instead, Scottish Widows plans to cut the exposure to UK equities in at least some funds from 12% to 3%, the Financial Times reports. Scottish Widows says this is part of a 'more globally diversified approach'. It isn't alone in this move, in fact it is possibly behind the curve. Big funds have been moving money out of the UK to get a piece of the racier US markets for some time. It is tempting to think that Scottish Widows, around since 1815, following suit is a sure sign that the market is about to turn. That aside, this is a blow to chancellor Rachel Reeves, who is also desperately seeking sources of tax income. Since the amount pension funds invested in the UK has fallen from 50% of assets in 2000 to just 4% now, she might think the funds are asking for trouble. SCM Direct, the online wealth management firm, wrote to Reeves a year ago suggesting that she: 'Introduce a requirement for pension funds to maintain at least 20% of their equity exposure in UK listed equities to retain their tax-advantaged status. This would simply return pension funds to their UK equity allocation as recently as 2017.' Reeves didn't reply – too busy tweaking her CV perhaps – but maybe it is time for her to have another look at this notion. Alan Miller at SCM asks whether the move by Lloyds is 'a prime example of rear-view mirror investing or given their new bias to anything US maybe a name change to US Widows is appropriate? Why should UK pension funds keep their UK tax status when they can't be bothered to invest more than a few beans in the UK?' Nicholas Hyett, Investment Manager at Wealth Club, says: 'As things stand, pension managers' primary duty is to achieve the highest possible return for their investors for a given level of risk. Any manager who unilaterally lets other priorities get in the way of that wouldn't be doing their job properly, whether those other priorities are supporting the UK stock market or cutting carbon emissions. 'However, it's up to government to set the terms on which pensions reliefs are available. Pensions are by far the largest pool of private capital in the UK – and it's not unreasonable that the government wants to tap that to support UK plc. 'That may not be in the best interest of pensioners, but then lots of pension policy isn't – annual allowances, limits on tax free lump sum withdrawals and tax on pension withdrawals are all bad news for pension savers but benefit the taxman and therefore society more widely.' Total UK pension assets are about £3.2 trillion. The 4% of that in UK equities is £128 billion. If all funds followed the Scottish Widows approach, that would see about £96 billion desert the UK stock market. That's a serious amount of money, enough even to trigger a crisis. Miller says: 'For context, UK pension funds have already withdrawn £400 billion+ from UK equities since 2000, and another £96 billion would accelerate this trend catastrophically.' The UK already has the lowest domestic equity allocation among major economies (4% vs. Australia's 37.7%) -- further cuts would deepen this disparity. I think Scottish Widows is pushing its luck. The Chancellor should have a word. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Inspectorate to examine plans for huge solar farm
The Planning Inspectorate has confirmed it will examine plans for a major solar farm, which would be the largest in the UK if approved. The proposed Green Hill Solar Farm facility would cover about 2,965 acres (12,000 hectares) of land south and west of Wellingborough and north of Northampton. It will also extend to include land to the north east of Warrington in Buckinghamshire. While the plans were being examined, members of the public, local authorities and other stakeholders could submit representations about the scheme. The size of the project meant decisions and recommendations for the scheme will be made by the Planning Inspectorate, rather than local planning authorities. It indicated that the pre-examination period could take up to three months. Buckinghamshire Council and both North and West Northamptonshire Council have been approached for comment. Martin Griffiths, the leader of Reform UK-controlled North Northamptonshire Council, previously launched a petition against the plans when he was an independent councillor. Green Hill Solar Farm claimed the scheme was necessary to help the UK reach its net zero targets. It said the site would have a maximum power output of 500MW. The project was initially due to be based solely in Northamptonshire, but the developer said it had identified the site in Warrington as being "suitable" and added it to the plans last summer. But the firm said it did not "currently have any intention to add further land to the scheme". According to its website, if the solar farm is approved, construction would begin in 2027 with the aim of providing electricity to people's homes by 2029. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. Petition launched against huge solar farm plan Planning Inspectorate Green Hill Solar Farm
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Strip Tinning Holdings Full Year 2024 Earnings: UK£0.26 loss per share (vs UK£0.05 loss in FY 2023)
Revenue: UK£9.03m (down 17% from FY 2023). Net loss: UK£4.70m (loss widened by UK£3.93m from FY 2023). UK£0.26 loss per share (further deteriorated from UK£0.05 loss in FY 2023). AI is about to change healthcare. These 20 stocks are working on everything from early diagnostics to drug discovery. The best part - they are all under $10bn in marketcap - there is still time to get in early. All figures shown in the chart above are for the trailing 12 month (TTM) period The primary driver behind last 12 months revenue was the Glazing segment contributing a total revenue of UK£8.06m (89% of total revenue). Notably, cost of sales worth UK£6.04m amounted to 67% of total revenue thereby underscoring the impact on earnings. The largest operating expense was General & Administrative costs, amounting to UK£6.62m (86% of total expenses). Explore how STG's revenue and expenses shape its earnings. Looking ahead, revenue is forecast to grow 32% p.a. on average during the next 3 years, compared to a 3.6% growth forecast for the Auto Components industry in the United Kingdom. Performance of the British Auto Components industry. The company's shares are up 12% from a week ago. Before we wrap up, we've discovered 4 warning signs for Strip Tinning Holdings that you should be aware of. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
