Webjet bookings enjoy big rise

WEBJET shares have soared to a record high after the online travel group revealed bookings surged over the past year.

The group yesterday reported an underlying profit, which excludes one-off items, of $55.7 million for the year to June – up 63 per cent from the previous year. Revenue rose 54 per cent to $291 million.

Webjet said the total value of transactions carried out on its websites jumped 54 per cent to $3 billion.

Shares in the group surged on the revelation, closing up $2.64, or 18.2 per cent, at a record high of $17.12.

There was a 10 per cent rise in bookings on its namesake flight booking website, while its accommodation service WebBeds was a particularly strong performer following the buyout of British rival JacTravel last August. Hotel bookings at the B2B service more than tripled to 2.27 million over the year, compared with 726,000 a year earlier.

Webjet managing director John Guscic credited the strong results to the company’s bookings growth.

“The acquisition of JacTravel has been instrumental in strengthening our competitive position, increasing our size in all regions and significantly expanding our pool of directly contracted hotels,” he said. “During the year we continued to increase direct contracts in key markets and we now have direct contracts with more than 21,000 hotels.”