Flight Centre Travel Group (FLT) starts the new fiscal year with solid momentum after a strong finish to FY22.
Releasing their audited 2022 fiscal year (FY22) accounts, the company revealed that TTV recovery accelerated during the fourth quarter (4Q) with a $35million underlying profit for the period.
The company noted that it took positive early steps on the path to post-COVID recovery during FY22 by increasing market share in key countries and sectors, achieving its targeted leisure and corporate return to profitability timeframes and delivering better than expected full-year earnings.
The 4Q uplift led to a modest second half (2H) profit – a significant turn-around from both the $184million loss recorded during the 1H, while heavy restrictions remained in place globally, and the $182.2million loss recorded during FY21 2H.
Despite a $183.1 million full-year loss, the company recorded a 46 per cent improvement on the $337.8 million FY21 result and is well within FLT’s upgraded guidance range ($180 million-$190million loss).
During FY22, the corporate business delivered a $13.5 million profit, which was underpinned by a $38.6 million 4Q result.
TTV increased 158 per cent to $5.6 billion over the year, with $2.3 billion generated during the 4Q – a TTV run-rate that would if extrapolated over the year to June 30, 2023, exceed the record $8.9 billion result achieved during FY19.
The ANZ, Americas and EMEA regions each generated circa 30 per cent of FY22 corporate TTV, highlighting the business’s geographic diversity, with the balance coming from Asia, a region that now includes the start-up FCM Japan joint venture (launched in January).
In Australia, FLT maintains a very high corporate market share and continues to win unmanaged business and accounts from competitors. Wins are accelerating, as competitors struggle to meet clients’ needs in the current trading climate.
Flight Centre Corporate Managing Director ANZ Melissa Elf said, “There’s absolutely no doubting that corporate travel has come back in a big way since domestic and international borders reopened. We expected a sugar rush early on, but it seems absence really does make the heart grow fonder, even in the business world, as we see no let-up in corporates wanting to see their teams face-to-face.
“The ‘new normal’ of conferencing, meetings and events looks set to be of a hybrid nature with organisations taking advantage Flight Centre’s very own ‘glocal’ approach, whereby an event can be attended by hundreds, but also beamed around the world if required.
“The fact is that business travellers get more done in a couple of days in person than they would over any virtual platform, and given the low unemployment rate in Australia, in-house recruiters are chasing talent more than ever.
“The best way to do this is to be able to speak to them one-on-one in a real-world environment. We know there will still be some turbulence ahead with COVID waves and the staff shortages across the world, but what we’ve shown is our corporate business has built a world-class system in which we’ve been able to help our customers survive and thrive – it’s an excellent foundation for the new financial year.
“We’re privileged to work with such a range of diverse organisations, and I’d like to thank them all for entrusting our four corporate brands with their travel management programmes. It’s never been more critical to have an expert on your side.”
