This morning, Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) released its half-year report to the ASX, revealing a jump in profit and dividends to shareholders.
Flight Centre Travel Group is a $5 billion company and Australia’s largest face-to-face travel agent, with operations in 23 countries around the world.
Here are some of the key news headlines from Flight Centre’s half-year report:
- Total transaction volume (TTV), which is the total amount of money which passes from Flight Centre customers, rose 8.7% to $10.16 billion
- Revenue, which is the amount of money Flight Centre collects, rose 5.4% to $1.37 billion
- Net profit before taxes rose 28% to $139 million
- An interim dividend of 60 cents per share was declared
Reflecting on Flight Centre’s first half performance, Managing Director Graham Turner said he was pleased with the performance.
“Generally, we can be pleased with our performance to date, given that we are tracking at or near record levels in most key financial areas,” Turner said.
“Given the strategic progress we have made and our positive start to the year, we now believe that our profit will finish slightly higher than initially expected and we have adjusted our guidance accordingly.” – Turner
Flight Centre now expects to report a full-year underlying profit before tax result of around $372.5 million, up 13% on 2017’s result and not far away from its record result of $376.5 million achieved during its 2014 financial year.
Flight Centre’s dividend of 60 cents per share represents 59% of its profit, the company said, up 33% from the dividend payment in the same period a year earlier.
The company’s debt stood at $91.5 million at reporting date (31 December 2017). With more cash on its balance sheet, Flight Centre said it ended in a near $377 million cash positive position.
“Generally, the company expects 1H operational trends to continue, with overseas businesses, particularly the large North American and EMEA operations, likely to drive FY18 profit growth,” Turner added.
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