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HELLOWORLD Travel Limited (ASX: HLO) has posted a profit before tax of $31 million for FY17, an 800 per cent increase of $27.6 million compared with the prior year on the back of restructuring and stronger branding.
The Sydney based travel group recorded strong growth across all key figures, including profit after tax of $21.5 million compared to $1.7 million in FY16.
Revenue for Helloworld was up by $26.4 million from FY16 to $326.4 million and total transactional value (TTV) rose by 3.1 per cent to $5.87 billion.
These results come on the back of re-branding the group's retail network to enhance the group's brand presence, increase member loyalty, and produce corporate relationships.
During the period the company integrated their Helloworld Travel and AOT Group businesses.
A final dividend has been declared of 8 cents per share, bringing the total dividends declared for FY17 to 14 cents per share, up from just 2 cents from 2016.
The company's strong performance was buoyed by the diversification and strengthening of the Helloworld retail network, including the acquisition of 50 per cent of Mobile Travel Agents in Australia and the addition of World Travellers Group in New Zealand.
During FY17, Helloworld exited its previously unprofitable relationship with online travel fare aggregator Orbitz; this helped boost the group's Australian revenue. Overall, revenue in the Australia segment increased by 8.7 per cent to $234.6 million, reflecting the inclusion of AOT businesses including Sunlover Holidays, AOT Inbound, and AOT Hotels.
After spending $18.6 million on merger synergies and cost saving facilities, Helloworld's overheads were reduced and, as a result, earnings for the Australian segment were $50.3 million, representing growth of $24.3 million.
Helloworld's has provided earnings guidance for FY18 in the range of $63 million to $67 million.
Following the release of Helloworld's FY17 results, at around 11am (AEST) shares in the company were up 2.6 per cent to $4.35.
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