Australia's Flight Centre Travel hits over 10-month low on flagging dismal Q1 profit rise

Flight Centre Travel

18/10/2024 02:22

By John Biju
       Oct 18 (Reuters) - Australian corporate travel manager
Flight Centre Travel Group  FLT.AX  reported a marginal rise in
its first-quarter underlying profit on Friday, sending its
shares to a more than 10-month low.
    Shares of the company fell as much as 17.4% to A$17.85, as
of 0011 GMT, to hit their lowest level since late November 2023,
while the broader benchmark index  .AXJO  was down 0.7%.
    Flight Centre's underlying profit and profit margin are
marginally higher for the first quarter of fiscal 2025 from a
year earlier, the company said in a limited trading update that
did not include profit figures.
    Analysts at UBS called the update 'relatively negative' in
the light of consensus expectations for profit before tax growth
of 63% for first half of fiscal 2025 and 39% growth for fiscal
2025.
    The company's profit is expected to be heavily weighted to
the second half of the fiscal year, it said.
    Growth in the travel manager's global corporate business has
been adversely impacted by lower airfare prices coupled with
global corporate sector activity being relatively muted, among
other factors, the company said.
    However, the travel retailer is seeing early positive signs
for October for the business. 
    Flight Centre is starting to enter a seasonally busier
trading period, with corporate travel activity and leisure
travel likely to rise after Northern Hemisphere holiday period,
it said.

 (Reporting by John Biju in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
 ((John.Biju@thomsonreuters.com;))