Wendy Wu joint deputy MD quits a year after promotion

One of two co-deputy managing directors of Wendy Wu Tours UK operations has quit roughly a year after being promoted.

Joe Sutcliffe had been with the Asia specialist operator for four years and was promoted in March 2016 to deputy managing director.

Colleague John Warr was subsequently promoted to the same level last month, meaning the pair were co-deputy managing directors for the UK.

Sutcliffe said he had decided to leave to take on another challenge as well as spend time with his family, The Daily Telegraph reported.

The firm’s founder Wendy Wu said that while the pair shared the deputy managing director title, Sutcliffe focused on the commercial side of the business while Warr focused on sales.

Wu said the company would be looking for a replacement to take on some of Sutcliffe’s responsibilities.

She said the company predominantly sells through high-street travel agents but its website has started to handle transactions in recent weeks.

Wendy Wu Tours recorded revenues of £19 million in the year to December 31, 2015, according to its most recent accounts.

Statutory pre-tax profits more than halved in 2015 to £2.16 million, although this was mostly because the company had enjoyed a one-off gain the previous year, according to the newspaper.

The business was founded in Australia in 1998 and offices opened in the UK in 2004 and in the US in 2010.