A sale of the hotels would highlight the value of Ladbrokes.

Both airlines believe that by working together we can deliver substantial public benefits, adding real value for customers and shareholders, boosting tourism and enhancing the further employment and investment potential of both airlines.

When you sell at an absolute auction, in its purest form, that is the market value of the property. Whether someone thinks it was worth more money doesn't matter. That's what the buyer was willing to spend at that particular moment.

I would probably go for the upper end of this. I think really that the whole group is undervalued.

Regardless of whether Ladbrokes is bid for, we believe that the current actions of management in disposing of lower-return hotel assets will ultimately result in the conglomerate discount evaporating, which will mean decent upside in the share price.

The board believes the process we've embarked on will deliver higher value to stockholders than the BASF offer.