Flight Centre reports another record-breaking full-year result

Flight Centre have announced a record $384.7 million underlying profit before tax.

The full-year results represent a 16.8 per cent year on year growth and an 8.5 per cent higher total transactional value on their FY17 results.

“The company’s record results highlight its business model’s strength, its ongoing relevance to customers globally and its increasing diversity,” said Flight Centre’s managing director, Graham ‘Skroo’ Turner.

“While there is still work to be done in our leisure sector, we are also starting to see some positive signs, with the Canada and US leisure businesses profitable for the first time since FY11 and FY12 respectively and the UK leisure businesses recording solid profit growth.”

Amidst claims that the travel giant is underpaying staff, Flight Centre also said it has moved to introduce a new wage model for its leisure salespeople.

In an outline of their full-year results on the ASX, the company said the new model is expected to be introduced during FY19 as part of an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA), which it is currently designing with its people.

Flight Centre said that while the EBA will increase wages, it is also an important investment that will ensure its agents operate under a simpler system and are better rewarded in terms of both pay and overall conditions.

The company expects further growth in FY19, surpassing its FY18 achievements off the back of ongoing corporate travel growth and improved leisure travel results.

“Withing FLT’s business, the company sees improvement and growth opportunities across its three core sectors and is tailoring strategies accordingly,” Turner said.

“In leisure travel, for instance, the company will continue to invest in its core Flight Centre brand, while also targeting the premium and youth sectors through brands like Travel Associates, Liberty Travel in the USA and StudentUniverse.

“We will continue to grow in emerging areas, including the home-based agency sector and online, and will target new revenue streams and models through initiatives like Flight Centre Exclusives.

“In corporate travel, growth is expected to be driven by account wins in both FCM and Corporate Traveller businesses.

“This success is in part due to FCM’s leading technology suite, which is blended wit han equally strong people offering and includes the SAM artificial intelligence app.

“FLT will continue to invest in this tech suite and have just announced an exclusive agreement with Serko to develop Savi, the next generation technology offering. The SME focussed Corporate Traveller brand has also strengthened its technology offering with Your CT deployed as a new portal for SME customers during FY18.”

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flight centre full-year results