Strong half-year financial results for FCM Asia and parent brand Flight Centre Travel Group!

Strong half-year financial results

26 February 2019

FCM’s parent brand, Flight Centre Travel Group’s Asian businesses have started the 2019 fiscal year strongly as evident in the half year financial results.

The company’s businesses in Singapore, China, Malaysia and India together recorded 39% growth in total transaction value (TTV) for the six months to December 31, 2018 to $AU885million. Underlying profit before tax (PBT) for the region almost quadrupled to $AU4million, as all businesses made solid contributions to the company’s results.

Globally, the company announced record first half (1H) TTV of $AU11.16billion and a $AU140.4million underlying PBT, within its targeted range of an underlying PBT between $AU140million and $AU150million.

Flight Centre Travel Group’s managing director Graham Turner said growth was underpinned by FLT’s corporate travel businesses and the company’s international operations in general.

 “Our achievements to date generally reflect a solid start to the year and highlight some key emerging themes – firstly our corporate model’s strength and secondly, the globalisation of our operations,’ he said.

“The corporate business, which is largely built around the FCM Travel Solutions and Corporate Traveller brands, has a proven organic growth model that is highly scalable and highly productive. During the first half, corporate TTV increased 16% globally to $4.2 billion.

“Our growth rate in Asia exceeded this overall growth rate, thanks to strong contributions from the FCM corporate travel businesses in Singapore, China, and Malaysia, plus the diverse India business.”

Flight Centre Travel Group is in the second year of a five-year business transformation program. 

In the corporate and FCM space, transformation initiatives focus on globalisation, digital and technical investments, the delivery of integrated financial solutions, vertical integration in product and developing a workplace of the future for the company’s people.

New and unique customer-facing systems and technology are being developed by FCM’s Innovation Labs –  tech hubs that are now in place in Barcelona, Stockholm, Boston, Brisbane and Bangkok.

Bertrand Saillet, FCM Managing Director for Asia, said the group’s corporate division in the Asia market was performing very well and he was incredibly excited at how the region was contributing to the company’s global success.

“The results demonstrate the success of the business across Asia, with TTV up strongly and more than $100million in new corporate accounts won,” Mr Saillet said. “FCM in Asia has gone through a massive transformation; a focus on innovative solutions, investment from the company and relentless commitment from our people, which reflects in both new client and retention results.

“FCM also introduced Sam into the Asia market, the global AI-powered chatbot and mobile travel assistant which was created by the company’s innovation lab. We as a company are always looking at innovative ways to enhance our clients’ travel programs. It is important to be able to be one step ahead in this industry and to develop technology that supports our clients as well as their travellers and their travel bookers.”

Key strategies for the FCM business’s growth include standardising and globalising the brand and the continued investment to corporate technology.

The positive half year trends are expected to continue over the full year, with the result likely to be driven by the corporate travel businesses globally and by the group’s other international businesses.

FLT’s corporate growth will in part, be fuelled by new accounts won during the first half of the year. These wins, amount to about $600 million in projected annual spend globally for the FCM business alone. 

For more information please email enews@cn.fcm.travel