Web Travel Group shares plunge after trading update is lower than market expectations
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More news: Shares in Web Travel Group slipped in afternoon trade following a trading update from the business-to-business travel marketplace platform provider that represented a downgrade to market consensus estimates, according to RBC Capital Markets analysts citing Visible Alpha data.
Web Travel Group’s share price had dropped 6.5% to $4.30 at 12:18pm AEST.
RBC analyst Wei-Weng Chen said the trading update represents a roughly 5% downgrade on the market consensus estimate of $3.2 billion for total transaction value in the first half of FY26.
He also noted that depreciation and amortisation is now expected by the company to be $31 million over the first-half, up from $28 million, due to foreign exchange.
Web Travel Group said the company faced foreign exchange “tailwind" of 8% converting euros into Australian dollars when compared to the first half of FY25.
“FY26 [profit before tax] will be impacted by the company guiding to higher D&A and net interest costs,” Chen said.
Web Travel Group on track for $3.1b total transaction value in first half of FY26
The news: Business-to-business travel marketplace platform provider Web Travel Group is on track to reach a total transaction value of at least $3.1 billion and reach record EBITDA for FY26.
The numbers: If realised, total transaction value for the first half of FY26 would be at least 19.2% higher than in the previous corresponding period.
Total transaction value margins for FY26 are on track to be at least 6.5%, with margins expected to be higher in the second half of FY26 than in the first half. However, this is lower than the 6.7% margin in FY25.
First half total transaction value margins are expected to be in the range of 6.2% and 6.4%, reflecting a hit from the sale of the destination management company business in March 2025, which had accounted for about 0.2% of the 6.6% margin in the prior corresponding period.
The context: During a two-week period in June Web Travel Group saw a “material increase in cancellations globally” due to the Israel-Iran conflict. While trading has picked up in other regions since then, business is still relatively soft for the Middle East, according to Web Travel Group managing director John Guscic.
What they said: Guscic said the company’s WebBeds platform “continues to outperform its peers” amid continuing strong growth in the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe.
