Crisil reaffirms ratings on Thomas Cook India at AA-minus, A1-plus

Thomas Cook India Ltd (TCIL) said on Monday that Crisil has reaffirmed its ratings on the debt programmes and bank facilities totalling Rs 739 crore.

While long-term rating has been pegged at AA-minus with a stable outlook, the short-term rating has been classified as A1-plus. Crisil has partially withdrawn the rating on short-term debt including commercial paper of Rs 50 crore as the company has not utilised it.

On September 23, Thomas Cook Plc in Britain announced that it is filing for compulsory liquidation with immediate effect.

While TCIL is a brand licensee of the Thomas Cook brand in India with brand licensing agreement valid until November 2024, it is a completely separate entity from TCPLC post-acquisition of a 77 per cent stake by Canada-based Fairfax Financial Holdings in 2012.

There are no shareholding or business linkage between the two companies. "Hence, Crisil believes the liquidation of the Britain-based entity should not have a material impact on TCIL's credit risk profile."

Crisil said the group's financial flexibility is expected to remain healthy, given strong cash and equivalents in the foreign exchange and travel businesses, aided by the omni-channel business model with extensive outreach and absence of any major long-term debt and capital expenditure over the medium term.