Travel firm in $77M crisis By CARA BUCKLEY cbuckley@herald.com Britain's largest tour operator, MyTravel, whose U.S. subsidiary is based in Delray Beach, has issued warnings of a possible $77 million black hole in profits due to accounting errors and a slow summer season. MyTravel, formerly Airtours PLC, announced last week estimated accounting revisions of $58.6 million, with another $18.5 million hit attributed to overestimated September sales. The Manchester-based company was reportedly in talks with private-equity firms 3i Group PLC, Permira and CVC Capital Partners about a $1.16 billion takeover bid. MyTravel's irregularities were attributed to ''aggressive'' accounting methods uncovered by Deloitte & Touche, which took over the account from former rival Arthur Andersen, the fallen auditors of Enron, earlier this year. The news, the company's second profit warning in less than three weeks, sent MyTravel shares plummeting some 80 percent on the London Stock Exchange to a low of 20 cents. Airtours PLC bought the cruise retailer Travel Services International of Delray Beach in 2000 for $384.7 million to expand its U.S. presence. The company was renamed MyTravel USA, and offers package vacations, airline tickets and hotel bookings. Its website, MyTravel.com, says the company is the largest cruise sales distribution company in the world, selling nearly 10 percent of cruise vacations. MyTravel has 420 franchises with brands including Algonquin Voyages Travel, Sunquest and the Wholesale Travel Group. One of its arms, CruisesOnly, has call centers in Aventura and North Miami Beach. MyTravel's U.S. spokeswoman was unavailable for comment Monday. The MyTravel Group is Europe's third-largest travel operator with 15 million customers, resort properties, cruise ships and an airline. Carnival Cruises bought a 25 percent stake in MyTravel in 1996 but sold its shares, worth roughly $517 million, in June 2001. MyTravel has issued three profits warnings since May. In late September, Deloitte & Touch forced the company to restate $23 million in profits, a glitch MyTravel blamed on the way it booked travel insurance sales. The announcement resulted in the ousting last week of former Chief Executive Tim Byrne, who reportedly received a $1.3 million golden handshake that MyTravel's nonexecutive board is fighting. The company has dismissed speculation about bankruptcy, but venture capitalists were reportedly circling. The crisis prompted MyTravel Group's executive chairman, David Crossland, to cancel his address to the Association of British Travel Agents in Cairo on Sunday. On Monday, the Financial Times reported that the company was considering restating accounts for previous years. This report was supplemented with Herald wire services. _________________________________________________________________ Unlimited Internet access for only $21.95/month. Try MSN! http://resourcecenter.msn.com/access/plans/2monthsfree.asp