Thomas Cook chief executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa has predicted his company will return to the Ftse 100 and at higher level than before.

Fontenla-Novoa dismissed Cook's fall out of the Ftse 100 as no more than "emotional" significance and said the company was "in great shape" regardless of the fall in the value of its share price.

Speaking at the ITT conference, he said the fall out of the Ftse 100, which was confirmed yesterday "meant bugger all in terms of the organisation". He added: "It is purely emotional".

Fontenla-Novoa went on: "I would like to be higher than 100 but that takes time, and if we deliver on our strategy as I believe we well, we will be back higher than before."

He also indicated that Cook would expand its retail estate, saying there would be "reinvestment" in the high street, which was seeing a bit of a come back.

Customers were happy to book short breaks over the internet, he said, but when it came to the annual family holiday many  did not want to take any risks so would choose to book through an agent - as long as they were given good service.

Travel agents in Germany gave customers the best service in Europe, which was why internet penetration of the holiday market was so low, he added.