Travellers Choice on a high

Travellers Choice is on a high this morning after pulling in its third consecutive record financial result.

Travellers Choice racked up a pre-tax operating profit for 2014/15 of $1.86 million, jumping up 15% on the previous financial year.

Announcing the result, the Travellers Choice Board confirmed that 95% of the 2014/15 profit will be returned directly to members, who remain the company’s sole shareholders.

All member shareholders will receive a 5.0% (25 cents per share) unfranked dividend, with the majority of the remaining operating profit distributed through trading rebates based on sales support for airline and wholesale partners.

Chief executive Christian Hunter says that with the inclusion of the latest profit distribution, Travellers Choice has during the 2014/15 fiscal period returned more than $2.1 million in additional commissions, incentives and overrides directly to its members – a 39% increase on 2013/14.

“During the same period our members have also earned supplementary override commissions at source from our network’s broad portfolio of high-calibre preferred suppliers,” Hunter said.

“Given that our membership fees are among the lowest of any major network in Australia, and our support services are second-to-none, Travellers Choice member shareholders continue to receive an outstanding return on investment.”

Hunter said the company’s sustained profit growth was once again driven by Travellers Choice members’ ability to optimise the value of preferred agreements, with sales growth witnessed across all key product categories.

At the same time, the retail group is continuing to benefit from the addition of high-quality recruits, with overall income rising by 14% during 2014/15.

“This trend also reflects the fact that our innovative and highly-responsive marketing support services are continuing to drive enquiries to members while at the same time helping them operate more efficient and professional businesses.”

The announcement of Travellers Choice’s record profit caps an exciting period for the company, which in July 2015 was honoured as Australia’s Best Travel Agency Group at the prestigious 2015 National Travel Industry Awards.

Travellers Choice member shareholders will meet in Melbourne in late November for the group’s Annual General Meeting and 2015 Shareholders’ Conference.

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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