Travel giant Flight Centre is pushing deeper into luxury tourism by acquiring the UK-based Scott Dunn trip agency – which offers trips from “malaria-free safaris” to “foodie holidays” in Vietnam – in a $220 million deal.on Tuesday morning also revealed a hefty rebound in earnings but warned some margins would remain below pre-coronavirus pandemic levels.
Flight Centre, behind brands including Liberty Travel in the US and business travel organiser FCM, started in 1982 and is shooting for “underlying” earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of between $250 million and $280 million this financial year. That follows it being savaged by COVID-19, along with the rest of the travel sector, and posting anThe acquisition target Scott Dunn posted $18 million EBITDA in the year to October, Flight Centre said in a presentation.
The business is being acquired for $210 million, with transaction expenses coming to another $10 million. The level of corporate-business transactions flowing through Flight Centre in the first six months of the year more than doubled from $2.048 billion to $5.04 billion. That was larger than the pre-COVID levels achieved in the first half of 2019.