Serko (ASX:SKO) and Webjet (ASX:WEB) report travel demand is coming back, but were outshone by Tower (ASX:TWR) and Whispir (ASX:WSP)
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This morning two travel stocks, Serko (ASX:SKO) and Webjet (ASX:WEB) reported their financial results but so did Tower (ASX:TWR) and Whispir (ASX:WSP) and they were a better performing pair.
Tower is a New Zealand based and ASX-NZX dual listed insurer and it reported results for the 12 months to September 30 2021.
It reported a profit of $19.3 million, up 72% from the year before and its solvency ratio was 271%, holding $56.5 million above its target solvency margin.
To top it all off, the company declared a final dividend of 2.5 cents per share and announced a $30.4 million buyback.
“Tower’s focus on simple and rewarding customer experiences combined with our digital and data capability have contributed to good growth, particularly in New Zealand where we saw a 7.9% premium increase to $350 million,” said CEO Blair Turnbull.
“Tower ends the year in a strong position to continue delivering sustainable earnings, dividends and premium growth.”
Whispir meanwhile offers cloud communications and workflow software.
It listed in June 2019 at $1.60 per share and after trading below that price for the first 9 months of listed life, things took off in late March when it was hired by the Victorian government to help monitor people in COVID-19 isolation and it rose as high as $4.66 in late July.
Today it substantially improved its FY22 revenue guidance from $57.2m-$60.2m to $64m-$68m, which would represent a 34-42% improvement from FY21 and an 11.9%-13.0% improvement from prior expectations, the company said.
Whispir credited client wins including certain “COVID specific communications”
Webjet released its results for the first half of FY22, and it reported demand for travel was coming back.
While the overall group recorded a $61.8 million loss this was just under half of the $132.2 million loss in the prior corresponding period.
Some of its divisions returned to profitability, including accommodation supplier subsidiary WebBeds.
Webjet said it would also be paying its deferred FY20 interim dividend.
While Australia and New Zealand were hit by lockdowns and border closures, domestic markets in North America and Europe improved the company’s position.
Serko meanwhile saw an increase in its net loss after tax from $10.1 million to $15.2 million – which the company said was due to a planned increase in expenditure to help its international expansion.
It also announced a NZ$85 million capital raising today, and similar to Webjet said it was seeing travel come back – at least in markets that were open.
“We are poised for growth out of this pandemic and the investment to date has proven our ability to grow from a regional leader to a truly global player,” said co-founder Darrin Grafton.
“Our focus now is on scaling the business to activate the opportunities we have ahead of us.”
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