Accommodation website Wotif.com recorded a 58 percent increase in net profit after tax to $11.9 million for the six months to 31 December 2006.

Published: 18 Feb 2007

Accommodation website Wotif.com recorded a 58 percent increase in net profit after tax to $11.9 million for the six months to 31 December 2006.

This result was driven by a 47 percent increase in room nights sold across the 42 countries available on Wotif.com’s website.

Wotif.com’s managing director, Graeme Wood, said, “The first six months of the 2007 financial year had been very strong with a record 1.825 million room nights being sold on Wotif.com (up from 1.24 million in the first half of FY2006).”

“This 47 percent growth in rooms sold shows the structural change in the way people book their accommodation is continuing to gain momentum. More and more consumers are realising that by booking their accommodation on Wotif.com they get access to great rates, a great range and the convenience of a
24/7 service. This change in consumer behaviour has seen visits to our site increase significantly with monthly user traffic reaching 2.5 million sessions (up from two million sessions in June 2006). We aim to continue to expand this audience in the current year to give our 9,000 accommodation suppliers the
greatest possible exposure,” added Wood.

“With higher volumes, efficiencies of scale are now becoming more evident with a healthy increase in Wotif.com's net profit before tax margin to 57 percent, up from 51.4 percent in the first half of FY2006,” he said.

He noted that Wotif.com’s 58 percent increase in net profit after tax had been delivered notwithstanding a $633,000 expense relating to options granted to employees as foreshadowed in the Company’s Prospectus. He commented that this expense was expected to reduce to $419,000 in the second half of FY2007 and will total $470,000 in FY2008.