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

By John Biju

(Reuters) – Australian corporate travel manager Flight Centre Travel Group 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 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.