“We are back baby”

BUOYED by a resurgent half year 2022/23 financial result, Webjet Managing Director John Guscic boldly declared this morning “we are back baby”.

The top line numbers for the six months to 30 Sep 2022 showed that overall group bookings for the company had returned to pre-pandemic levels, Total Transaction Value (TTV) had been restored to 90% of 2019 volumes, and group underlying EBITDA had improved substantially to $72.5 million ( TD breaking news).

The encouraging figures were driven largely by the continued success of the company’s WebBeds division, which was shown to be on track to exceed pre-pandemic profitability by the end of the current financial year.

Since May, WebBeds’ monthly TTV has exceeded the comparative period in 2019, and on a currency basis, 1H23 TTV also returned to pre-COVID levels.

This upswing was attributed to “significant organic growth” in Europe, North America and the APAC markets, with Webjet noting several key destinations are still yet to open and will likely accelerate future growth over the next 12 months.

Transforming the technology side of the WebBeds business has also played a role in its swift recovery, with the report declaring the division 35% more efficient on a booking-per-FTE basis since the pandemic begun.

Meanwhile, the OTA business also showed major improvement, increasing bookings from 296,000 in the previous corresponding period to 641,000 in the most recent half.

TTV also increased by 234% to $614 million, EBITDA jumped close to 500% from $3.6 million to $21.4 million, and revenue grew from $18.2 million to $51.8 million - see the full report HERE.