Saga gives guidance on sale date

Saga has more than two million customers

Holidays to insurance company Saga has said it expects its sale or flotation to happen in the second half of 2004.

The family-run firm, which targets the over-50s, and first announced the idea of a sale or public offering last November, is valued at around £1.5bn.

A spokeswoman for Saga said the process was continuing on schedule, and denied reports that a delay had been caused by a dispute among the de Haan family.

The Kent-based company made a pre-tax profit of £48m in 2001.

"We have never set a timetable and it's only now that we've gone back to potential buyers to give some guidance on the timetable and the focus will be on the second half of this year," said the Saga spokeswoman.

Company development

She denied a report in the Times newspaper that some members of the de Haan family were opposed to the sale, which was triggered after chairman Roger de Hann announced his retirement last autumn.

"There is no dispute," she said.

The company is being advised by investment bank UBS on the sale or possible floatation.

Saga was founded in 1951 as a single hotel in Folkestone.

Today, specialising in a wealth of services for the over-50s, it has more than two million UK customers.