Webjet shares have shaken off the unease in the wake of the problems with the collapse of the Thomas Cook travel company in the UK in August.
The shares rose 3.5% to $12.88 yesterday on a day when red dominated trading with the market down 1.3% or more than 90 points.
They rose in reaction to a confident trading update at the company’s AGM.
Webjet says it now expects underlying EBITDA (earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation) for 2019-20 will be in the range of $157-167 million, an increase of 26-34% on the prior year.
The company says it expects first-half EBITDA to be $80 million, up 38% on the prior corresponding period’s $58 million.
CEO John Gusic said in the update “We expect Corporate costs to increase between 5-10% over FY19 reflecting ongoing investment across the group function to support significantly increased global scale, stronger governance and risk management as well as overheads associated with running a $4 billion TTV business.”
The profit estimates exclude the one-off impact of the Thomas Cook collapse of around $43 million.
The shares are still well under the $13.50 they were trading at before news of the Thomas Cook losses broke.
