Corporate Travel Management (CTM) is seeing some welcome signs that business is slowly getting back to normal, thanks in large part to the performance of its local operations.
In an update at the UBS investor conference in Sydney on Wednesday, CTM revealed it broke even in March and expects positive underlying earnings in the final quarter of FY21, which will be led by its operations in Australia and New Zealand, and the UK and Europe.
The ASX-listed company is enjoying strong domestic demand in the ANZ region, with total client activity climbing to 85 per cent of FY19 booking levels as of last week.
New Zealand continues to be a “standout”, according to CTM, trading at above 160 per cent of FY19 booking levels.
The company’s managing director, Jamie Pherous (pictured above), highlighted the need for corporate confidence in both border openings and vaccine rollouts as key factors in achieving sustainable economic recovery and the resumption of global trade.
“It is very clear from both customer feedback and client activity that businesses are keen to get back on the road,” he said.
“Corporate travel and company success are highly correlated – the ability to connect face-to-face supports businesses to grow at speed, improve supply chain and productivity gains, and for companies and their employees to align on strategy in ways that virtual environments simply cannot match.
“Now that both the US and UK markets are well-advanced in their vaccination programs, with adults ‘at risk’ and over-50s largely vaccinated, travel restrictions are on the verge of being relaxed.
“This will allow businesses in these regions to gain a competitive advantage on the rest of the world in economic trade and recovery, and we expect that recovery to accelerate further by June/July based on the majority of all adults being vaccinated.”
In relation to Australia and New Zealand, Pherous said: “Whilst national and state governments have done an incredible job at managing the virus and fine-tuned their tracking and tracing capabilities, there is a real risk that Australian and New Zealand companies get left behind in the global recovery if we cannot participate and compete with the rest of the world.”
