THE founder of the hotels to cruise ships empire Easy Group, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, is considering a long-term succession plan involving a stock-market flotation.

The Greek entrepreneur, who is the sole shareholder in Easy Group, believes a listing could provide continuity for the Easy franchise after he steps down from day-to-day involvement in the company. At present, only Easyjet among Haji-Ioannou’s companies has a stock-market presence.

“I have to think about how this little structure (Easy Group) will survive my lifetime,” Haji-Ioannou said this weekend. “Investors in Easy-branded public companies will want to know what happens when I am no longer around.”

The tycoon, whose businesses now include pizza delivery and male-grooming products, said the flotation of Easy Group was a “genuinely long-term” project.

“It is not something we could do now even if we wanted to because the business does not have sufficient scale.”

Easy Group’s income comes from royalty charges from the various businesses and franchisees who operate single outlets of Haji-Ioannou’s pizza and internet café businesses.

Haji-Ioannou added that he was looking for an executive to take on the responsibility of managing the group’s intellectual-property assets and licensing agreements.

Not all of his ventures have been a success. Haji-Ioannou recently withdrew from the cinema business, although he does continue to run an online film-rental service.

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