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- Flight Centre (FLT) expects a smaller loss in FY22 due to a solid rebound in travel demand following the COVID-19 pandemic
- The company is now expecting to report an EBITDA loss of up to $190 million, this is less than the estimated $225 million loss
- Travel demand accelerated after governments relaxed or removed restrictions that grounded most non-essential travel since the start of the pandemic
- With this demand, total transaction value (TTV) for FY22 topped $10 billion – more than two-and-a-half times the $3.95 billion FY21 result
- On the market, FLT shares are up 3.45 per cent to trade at $17.70 at 10:45 am AEST
Flight Centre (FLT) is expecting a smaller loss in FY22 due to a solid rebound in travel demand following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The travel agent company is expecting to report earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) loss of between $180 million and $190 million, less than the previous estimate of a loss between $195 million and $225 million.
Travel demand accelerated after governments relaxed or removed restrictions that grounded most non-essential travel since the start of the pandemic.
With this demand, total transaction value (TTV) for FY22 topped $10 billion – more than two-and-a-half times the $3.95 billion FY21 result.
TTV demand has been fuelled by both an uplift in demand and higher than normal ticket prices.
Managing Director Graham Turner said after a challenging period, Flight Centre is pleased to achieve its goal of returning to monthly underlying EBITDA profitability in both corporate and leisure sectors late in the year.
“The scale of our recovery exceeded our initial expectations and meant that we should now exceed our preliminary FY22 result target, with early trading results pointing to a breakeven second half result and a healthy fourth quarter profit (underlying EBITDA),” he said.
“There will inevitably be ongoing challenges for the industry over the next six to twelve
months as new strains of the virus emerge, airline capacity returns and as we rebuild staff
numbers to required levels, but we feel that we are well placed to overcome these concerns given our corporate business’s continued rise and our leisure business’s ongoing strength.”
Flight Centre will release its audited FY22 report on August 25.
On the market, FLT shares were up 3.45 per cent to trade at $17.70 at 10:45 am AEST.
