Flight Centre Travel Group releases its full-year FY24 results to the ASX
Flight Centre Travel Group (ASX:FLT) has issued its full year results for FY24 to the Australian Securities Exchange. Please click here for the full announcement.
Flight Centre Travel Group has delivered a AU$320 million underlying PBT for 2024 fiscal year (FY24) – the result is a 131 per cent increase on the AU$139 million FY23 and is at the mid-point of FLT’s guidance range.
Total Transaction Value (TTV) reached a record AU$23.74 billion, slightly above the AU$23.7 billion FY19 result and a circa AU$1.8 billion year on year increase, with both corporate and leisure businesses delivering more than AU$1 billion year on year growth, and corporate achieving another record.
FLT’s global corporate business delivered a 44 per cent underlying PBT increase to AU$211 million, with Corporate Traveller contributing a record profit.
Corporate TTV increased by 10 per cent to a record AU$12.1 billion, as the business finished the year about 35 per cent larger than FY19 in a sector that has only recovered to circa 80 per cent of the pre-pandemic activity levels (Source: MIDT).
Comments by Steve Norris, EMEA Managing Director, Flight Centre Travel Group:
“Corporate travel continues to be seen as a non-discretionary spend for businesses and remains a crucial facet for companies that want to survive and thrive across the EMEA region.
“Flight Centre Travel Group achieved a record year for profit in the UK in FY24 with our two flagship corporate businesses of FCM Travel and Corporate Traveller playing a pivotal role in this – while South Africa and the UAE also enjoyed their best ever year.
“Our outstanding team has continued to drive new business wins for FCM Travel, while expanding our customer base in the UK nationally. Of these bigger nationwide wins, it’s important to note that some major customers have yet to be fully implemented, and we’ll see the benefits of this in FY25.
“We’ve also continued to invest in our technology and operations, which we’re seeing clear returns on. We’ve also fully integrated our proprietary technology Melon with Trainline, allowing us to truly enhance our UK customer experience, while the FCM Platform integration continues at pace.
“More broadly, one of the key trends we’ve seen, which is in keeping with the rest of the world, is the rise of the ‘bleisure’ traveller – where businesspeople are taking advantage of their corporate trips and tagging a holiday on the beginning or the end.
“Crucially, our people continue to be our most important asset across our business. A testament to this is our recognition with Best Places to Work Awards which we’ve received in the UK across categories for Wellbeing and Development and in the UAE for women in the workplace.
“Looking forward, we’ve got a lot to be optimistic about. We’re building from a solid foundation with the right people, expertise and technology in place to drive continued growth as we enter a busy season for business travellers.”
Comments by Chris Galanty, Global Corporate CEO, Flight Centre Travel Group:
“It’s been a robust year for the corporate pillar of the Flight Centre Travel Group with our flagship brands of Corporate Traveller and FCM Travel delivering record Total Transaction Value in a sector that has only recovered to circa 80 per cent of pre-COVID transaction volumes.
“This result has been driven by high customer retention rates and a large pipeline of new account wins, some of which have yet to be fully implemented, so we’ll see the benefits of these flow over the coming months once they begin trading.
“FCM Travel transaction volumes rose by 10 per cent year on year as the business continues to win and service large multi-national and enterprise-level accounts, while Corporate Traveller delivered a record profit globally, alongside winning managed and unmanaged SME and start-up accounts.
“Our blend of exceptional people and innovative technology continues to set us apart with both dedicated travel consultants and managers joining forces with the mass adoption of Corporate Traveller’s Melon online booking tool in the Northern Hemisphere and FCM Platform globally.
“We’ve continued to invest, and this year saw us launch our global corporate-specific AI Centre of Excellence that’s revolutionising customer service, empowering our agents through smart automation, and is a key driver as we remain on track to deliver our Productive Operations project.
“We’ve also spent a lot of time in understanding the pain points of our customers and we’ve made significant investments to solve these problems – this has since allowed us to generate new revenue streams – meaning that we ultimately stay ahead of the curve.
“We’ve done an excellent job in building a solid foundation of stability, and as recent global industry-wide issues have proved, it always pays to have a travel management company on your side.
“The corporate arm of the Flight Centre Travel Group is a materially larger business than pre-COVID and we’re energised by the progress we’ve made in the Grow to Win space - and will continue to make - in productive operations in Flight Centre Travel Group’s journey to becoming a two per cent margin business.”