17 Nov, 2022
ASX:WEB today announced its financial results for the first half of FY23, with WebBeds global performance driving the Groups’ result – exceeding pre-pandemic booking levels since May 2022.
Key metrics
1H23 saw Webjet Limited's Bookings, Total Transaction Value (TTV), Revenue and earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) all up significantly compared to the same period last year.
Key Metrics. Bookings, TTV, Revenue and EBITDA all up significantly compared to the same period last year.
Commenting on the result, Webjet Limited’s Managing Director John Guscic said:
“This result demonstrates a spectacular turnaround of $88.4 million in underlying EBITDA from the 1H22 loss of $15.9 million. It underpins the efforts we took as soon as the pandemic hit to ensure each business was optimally positioned to recapture demand once travel returned. Recovery is substantially accelerating and WebBeds is leading the charge. All WebBeds regions saw significant organic growth, particularly Europe which benefited from a strong northern hemisphere summer, and North America which is now more than three times larger than it was when the pandemic began. Search activity and conversions through the WebBeds platform continue to increase, and EBITDA margins are now higher than they were pre-pandemic. Despite a number of large markets yet to open, since May 2022 WebBeds bookings have exceeded what they were before the pandemic hit and profitability is getting close to pre-pandemic levels.”
WebBeds is on track to exceed pre-pandemic profitability in FY23, with 2H23 EBITDA expected to exceed pre-pandemic levels by at least $10 million. 2H23 profitability for the B2C businesses (Webjet OTA and GoSee) are expected to be consistent with 1H23 results, reflecting the macroeconomic environment.
Commenting on the outlook, John Guscic said:
“It is exciting to see the Company emerge from the pandemic more agile, more efficient and better placed to deliver growth than ever before.
The landscape has changed and there is massive global opportunity for WebBeds. WebBeds is no longer European summer centric – it is now a truly global business, picking up share in all regions, operating a single technology platform, and with the capability to scale rapidly. We believe these qualities overcome the current macroeconomic pressures. 3Q23 Bookings and TTV are currently tracking more than 30% ahead of pre-pandemic levels and FY23 EBITDA is expected to be higher than it was pre-pandemic.
Webjet OTA has been recognized as the “world’s leading online travel agent” 2 and has increased its market share by 57% since the pandemic began. Trip Ninja went live on the webjet.com.au site in October and we believe the technology offers enormous potential to increase our share of the international flights market. Demand for travel is strong and restoration of airline capacity will be the driver of pre-pandemic profitability for the Webjet OTA business.
The GoSee rebrand is progressing well and we are confident it will exceed pre-pandemic profitability in the medium term. Profitability for that business is highly linked to the reopening of international borders to inbound tourism.”
You can find all related documents on the ASX Releases page of our Investor Centre website, with some key documents and commentary below.
1H23 ASX Release
17 Nov, 2022
Half Year Financial Report
17 Nov, 2022
Investor Presentation
17 Nov, 2022
This announcement has been approved for release to the ASX by the Board of Directors.
For further information.
Investors.
Please contact Carolyn Mole at investor@webjetlimited.com
Media.
Please contact the History Will Be Kind team at media@webjetlimited.com or call on (+61) 02 8046 4848
The Web Travel Group is proud to support 40:40 Vision to achieve gender balance in senior leadership by 2030.
WebBeds partners with BeCause – a sustainability technology start-up transforming how companies in travel manage their sustainability data – to scale up the number of properties tagged as ‘eco-certified’ on WebBeds booking platforms.