Virgin Group is "not interested" in selling any part of its 10 per cent stake in Virgin Australia Holdings, after having sold two large tranches of shares to Singapore Airlines and Etihad Airways in 2013, says chairman Sir Richard Branson.
"We are very much holders," Sir Richard told The Australian Financial Review during a visit to Sydney on Tuesday. 
When asked if he had been approached by other large Virgin Australia shareholders, including Air New Zealand, Etihad and Singapore Airlines, about selling the stake, he said: "I think everybody knows we are not interested in selling."
That view is a reversal of Sir Richard's position in   May 2013, when he was last questioned directly over the future of his stake in Virgin Australia. At that time, he said its then-13 per cent holding was less important than Virgin Group's branding agreement with the airline.
"The 13 per cent is pretty strategic in that it could be very valuable to a player one day but it's not that important from the Virgin Group's point of view," he said then. In   October that year, Virgin Group sold shares to Etihad for a premium to the prevailing trading price but it has not sold any since.
The four largest shareholders in Virgin Australia now hold a combined 82 per cent stake in the carrier, giving it a relatively tiny free float.
Virgin Australia paid $18.1 million in royalties to Virgin Group for branding rights in the 2013 financial year, the last for which public records are available. Virgin Australia last year reported an underlying loss before tax of $49 million, but it has forecast a return to profit this financial year. However, the airline has not given any guidance on when it might pay dividends to its shareholders.

Pleased with Virgin's performance
Sir Richard on Tuesday indicated Virgin Group was pleased with Virgin Australia's performance in executing its strategy of moving upmarket to take on Qantas.
"If Virgin Australia didn't exist, Qantas would be as bad as it was five years ago," he said. "But Virgin Australia coming in and innovating has meant Qantas has had to react. The Australian public have definitely benefited all around I think from that."
He said he was a bit concerned that the lower commodity prices could lead to a drop in demand for Australian travellers, but he said the lower Australian dollar should also benefit inbound business from markets like the United States.
"There will be a lot more people coming to Australia with the low dollar," he said. "And there are a lot more people from America to come to see Australia than Australians to go to America."
Virgin Australia is upgrading the product on its Boeing 777s that fly between Sydney and Brisbane and Los Angeles later this year, giving it business class and premium economy products that will arguably be the most luxurious available on the trans-Pacific routes.
Sir Richard said it was important for Virgin Australia, as a challenger brand, to have a better product than its competitor.
"When Qantas tried to [crush] Virgin Australia, they inflicted so much damage on themselves, to themselves that they finally backed off," he said. "They even had to go begging to their government, having lost hundreds of millions of dollars trying to drive us out of business. The main thing was to make sure we kept the quality up."