Shares in Thomas Cook jumped more than 53 per cent in initial trading on Monday after the endebted travel group reached agreement with its bankers to provide it with new access to funding.

The firm's bankers, including Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and HSBC, have agreed to provide a new £200 million facility until 30 April 2013 as part of a deal which replaces the £100 million short-term credit agreement announced in October.

'I am absolutely delighted that we have reached agreement and I would like to thank the banks for acting so swiftly,' said group chief executive Sam Weihagen. He said the group would now strengthen its balance sheet and ensure it became 'a much stronger financial company'.

The positive news means that the company, along with shareholders and customers, can breathe a sigh of relief. Thomas Cook shares fell 75 per cent last Tuesday after it announced it was in talks to shore-up its finances. The stock clawed back some of the losses as the week wore on but failed to gain any firm ground ahead of refinancing.

The company delayed its preliminary results which cover the year to the end of September, pending the outcome of the bank talks. These were originally due out last Thursday but will now be published in the week commencing 12 December.

The new loan will take the company's debt to more than £1billion, as it is piled on top of the £900 million being nursed at the end of September.

Weihagen has committed to review the entire business and will no doubt want to devote particular focus to the 'profitability problems' in the UK.

'We are working on, and actually have really started on a turnaround programme for the UK which will make it a much more efficient and much more profitable company,' he said.

But he has so far resisted any suggestion that Thomas Cook will begin to disappear from the British high street, claiming that customers often prefer this approach to the internet and adding that these shops account for two thirds of the group's bookings in peak season.

The news failed to impress analysts though, with Panmure Gordon’s Simon French describing the new funding as ‘papering over the cracks’. He reiterated his ‘sell’ recommendation saying that he has little faith in the company’s strategic review or resolution of its consumer issues.

James Hollins at Evolution Securities has moved his stance to ‘neutral’ on the basis that 'all the bad press has come at a relative low-point in the booking cycle and the group has the funds and time to restore partner and consumer confidence in its brand and survival'. He added: 'We retain our "sell" on Tui Travel that had hoped to benefit from a short-term bookings spike.'

This was written for our sister website, Interactive Investor