the jet is taking off, page-2

It's definitely on the list whenever any global pull back eventuates:

Webjet net profit down 18pc to $7.7m
09:29, Thursday, 6 August 2009

Sydney - Thursday - August 6: (RWE Australian Business News) -
Webjet Ltd (ASX:WEB) net profit fell 18pc to $7.68m in the 12 months
ended June 30 from $9.37m for the previous year.
The 2008 net profit included a one-off tax credit of $2.7m
reflecting the establishment of a deferred tax asset in relation to the
copyright benefit in the TSA licence, which is Webjet's core software
asset.
Excluding the one-off tax credit, the like-for-like 2008 net
profit was $6.67m.
Operating profit rose 14pc to $10.77m from $9.47m on revenues up
20pc to $30.12m from $25.15m.
Basic earnings per share were 10.24c, down from 12.52c.
Final dividend is up from 3c to 3.5c (including a 0.5c special
dividend), fully franked, payable on October 8 to shareholders
registered September 24.
This takes dividends for the full year to 6.5c, up from 5c.
Strong TTV growth of 17pc was achieved despite a significant
reduction in unit values of air fares due to substantial airline price
discounting.
Transaction numbers recorded a 21pc increase to a total of about
657,000.
Operating margins increased. Income, excluding interest, of
$28.3m was up 20pc from 2008. The margin to TTV of 7.3pc increased from
7.1pc in 2008 despite an extremely competitive environment.

*****

"As indicated in our full-year report for 2008 the general and
macro environment for 2008/09 was significantly restrained, relative to
2007/08, with major industry participants including airlines reporting
substantial and sustained downturns in traffic demand and pricing.
"This resulted in continuous price discounting by airlines
across all segments of the market.
"Despite this general downturn and price discounting Webjet
delivered profit growth through increased market share and substantial
increases in both transaction numbers and TTV," managing director Mr
David Clarke said.
"As has been comprehensively reported in the general media,
economic indicators suggest that Australia may not have suffered as
significantly as its overseas counterparts during the global financial
crisis. Indeed there are segments of media commentary which are
currently suggesting that the worst may be over and that there are very
tentative signs of the beginnings of a recovery.
"However, as the Prime Minister indicated recently, there are
significant questions remaining as to whether this recovery is
sustainable and many of the indicators, such as unemployment levels, are
yet to crystalise.
"The comments contained in our release dated 6 August 2008 in
relation to the reduced demand, the likely reduction in the unit value
of travel, the probability of consumers aggressively hunting bargains,
and the probability of aggregation sites such as Webjet gaining market
share, have proven to be accurate.
"Having said that, we are yet to see any evidence of a sustained
increase in airline pricing. Available capacity operated by carriers
both domestically within Australia and internationally from Australia
has been rationalised and adjusted for the lower demand profile but
overall capacity is still substantially in excess of demand.
"Consequently we do not expect to see a sustained improvement in
market conditions, certainly in the six months to December 2009 and,
arguably, not until well into calendar year 2010," Mr Clarke said.