Ananova:

Shares in tour operator Airtours are set for a sunny start tomorrow, following speculation that a £2 billion sale of the company is brewing.

The holiday group is being seen as the latest target in the rapidly consolidating tour operator market, following the £1.8 billion acquisition of UK rival Thomson Travel by Germany's Preussag in May.

A report in the Mail on Sunday suggested Airtours could be willing to sell at 400p-a-share - nearly double the group's current price of 228p, which values it at £1.12 billion.

One potential bidder for Airtours could be German travel group Rewe, the paper speculated. If a deal did go ahead, it would mark another takeover by a Germany group of a UK operator.

Aside from Preussag's recent push into the UK market, there is speculation German group C&N Touristic could buy Thomas Cook. Cook is already 50.1% owned by Hanover-based Preussag but the German group is having to sell the stake following its takeover of Thomson.

However the rumours about a sale of Airtours have been dismissed by the company itself as speculation.

A spokesman for the group said: "Airtours does not have a For Sale sign up. But it is totally shareholder focused."

The group, however, is likely to face further questioning about the rumours on Tuesday, when it reports its full-year financial figures.

The figures themselves are forecast to reflect the tough year Airtours has experienced with its German subsidiary Frosch Touristik (FTi), which is suffering overcapacity in the German tour operator market. FTi was originally an associate but Airtours bought out the minority stake in order to better control the division.

Analysts are forecasting pre-tax profits will come in at £100 million, much less than the previous year's £156.5 million, according to stockbrokers Greig Middleton.

Profits are also likely to have come under pressure in its Scandinavian businesses, where demand shrank as customers were unwilling to pay increased brochure prices.