Some Good News From Flight Centre
Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) unveiled its year-end results for its 2020 fiscal year today (Aug. 27), and they indicated an optimistic future for its corporate brands FCM Travel Solutions and Corporate Traveller despite a major downturn in the travel industry.
While FCTG experienced severe losses (AUD$510M underlying loss before tax) due to unprecedented travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, FCM Travel Solutions and Corporate Traveller proved to be resilient.
During the global shutdown, the two business travel divisions landed a record amount of new business and pipeline of potential opportunities, meaning they are well positioned to fuel FCTG’s recovery
FCM Travel Solutions, which has a presence in 97 countries, won new business globally with total projected annual spend (pre-COVID) of USD$1.3billion, thus consolidating its position in the top three global travel management companies and increasing market share.
FCM’s new accounts include multinational and national large enterprise corporations and government agencies.
Together these wins strengthen an already diverse global customer base, which includes a solid portfolio of companies in mining, energy and construction that continued to book essential travel throughout the crisis. About 25% of FCM’s total transaction value (TTV) currently comes from government, mining/resources and health/pharma sectors.
Meanwhile Corporate Traveller, which specializes in providing travel management services to SME companies, secured new business globally in the region of USD$400M. Corporate Traveller operates in the USA, Canada, UK, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and India.
Overall, FCM Travel Solutions and Corporate Traveller saw a profit before tax of roughly AUD$65million during fiscal year 2020 and are well placed to break-even on domestic/regional volumes. The corporate divisions recorded strong first half growth and were on track to top $10billion in TTV before industry-wide activity slowed significantly from March.
Prior to the Coronavirus outbreak, FCTG had achieved $150million in global profits (including both its corporate and leisure businesses), for the first eight months of the fiscal year. TTV had also been tracking at record levels through to February 29th, before decreasing significantly in March.
Charlene Leiss, president of Flight Centre Travel Group Americas, said of the results: “Our earnings for the first half of the year speak to our robust product offering, our unmatched expertise and superior customer service that appeal to travelers around the globe.”
Leiss continued: “What they don’t show you is the commitment, passion and fortitude of our nimble team. Although the pandemic created an exceptionally challenging environment, our leadership team made tough, strategic decisions on a global level at the onset of the pandemic to preserve the longevity of FCTG and ensure its ability to endure unprecedented losses over the last five months.”
And she concluded: “The sacrifices that were made, as well the dedication and agility of our talented team of professionals enabled us to persevere and position ourselves well for recovery.”
Go to www.fcm.travel or https://www.corporatetraveller.ca/ for more.
