Jan 31 (Reuters) – Flight Center Travel Group (FLT.AX) said on Tuesday it would buy UK-based leisure travel company Scott Dunn for an enterprise value of 121 million pounds ($149.39 million).
The Australian travel agency currently operates a number of leisure travel brands in various countries, including the UK.
Graham Turner, Flight Centre’s managing director, said in a statement: “Scott Dunn provides an entry point into the UK and US luxury travel markets through a well-respected, scalable brand, which will be supported by FLT’s global platform .”
The travel management company said the acquisition would be accretive to its fiscal 2023 earnings per share by more than a dozen percent.
Flight Center said the deal would be funded through a A$180 million ($127.04 million) rights issue and A$40 million in cash.
The fundraising will be at an offer price of A$14.60 per share, an 8.4 per cent discount to Flight Center shares’ closing price of A$15.83 on Friday
In addition, Flight Center said it now expects half-year group revenue to more than triple to $1.1 billion in the 2023 financial year.
It also expects to deliver strong margins and return to profitability, with underlying EBITDA expected to be A$95 million, compared with a loss of A$184 million last year. It forecast underlying EBITDA for the 2023 financial year to be in the range of A$250 million to A$280 million.
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Reporting by Navya Mittal in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva
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