Saga shakes up top team after Monarch collapse

Over-fifties travel and insurance specialist Saga has shaken up its management team after a profit warning last month sent its share price plunging.

Tour and cruise operations will be combined into a single group called Saga Travel, which will be led by Robin Shaw, previously the chief executive of its cruise business.

Saga Services — the insurance arm — will also have a new boss, Gary Duggan, who was hired in September as the unit’s chief executive designate from insurer BGL.

Duggan takes over from Roger Ramsden, who was due to take up a new role with the company, but will now leave.

These changes follow the decision by Jeannette Linfoot, managing director of its tour operations, to leave in December.

Saga took a £2 million hit in October when Monarch collapsed because it was forced to rebook flights for package holidays which had already been sold.

It said last month that full-year profits would be between 1% and 2% lower, but it was the guidance that profits this year would be 5% lower, as Saga invests in building customer accounts, that sent shares into a tailspin. The stock was flat today.