Helloworld Travel Limited has just updated its forecast for the financial year ending 30 June 2023, with the group now expecting a profit (of underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation – EBITDA) of between $42-$45 million.
After Helloworld recorded an underlying EBITDA loss (on a continuing operations basis) of $10.6 million in FY22, the new guidance reflects a turnaround in fortune of up to $55 million in 12 months for the group.
In a statement on ASX, HLO also said it expected its total transaction value (TTV) to exceed $2.56 billion for the full year, representing growth of 138 per cent on the previous year.
With “all geographic segments now running profitably”, HLO said it “continues to control its costs and deliver improving EBITDA to revenue margin outcomes”.
In its forward outlook, Helloworld also reported:
- No external borrowings and strong liquidity
- Ready Rooms, the B2B hotel booking engine, has expanded its product range and expects to double TTV in FY24
- Resworld, the agency mid-office system, has been rolled out across the Tasman and is expected to be available in Europe in the second half of FY24.
Meanwhile, HLO expects to complete its acquisition of Express Travel Group (ETG) “shortly” and says it will fully fund the purchase from existing cash reserves. The group predicts the acquisition will add additional underlying profit of $11-$12 million in FY24.
Helloworld has transitioned more than 800 agents from ETG ticketing systems to HLO ticketing systems over the last month.
Travel sentiment
More broadly, HLO says leisure travel demand continues to hold up strongly in Australia and New Zealand.
“Inbound arrivals to Australia and NZ continue to improve from western markets while demand across traditional Asian markets remains slow. We expect to see this improve significantly in 2024,” it added in the ASX statement.
Meanwhile, “cruise capacity continues to increase with cruise bookings now being taken through to the end of 2024 and early 2025”.
HLO will release its annual report on 28 August 2023.
Helloworld Travel Limited currently has over 750 staff located in Australia, NZ, Fiji and Greece, and over 2,000 members of its travel agency networks in Australia and New Zealand.
In May, Helloworld hosted its first international post-pandemic Owner Managers Conference (OMC) and its first conference incorporating its entire network across Australia and New Zealand.
At the same time, the U.S. Travel Association and Brand USA awarded HLO for its contribution to getting Aussies to the United States. Read more about that here.
