February 21, 2012 - 01:35 PM ET
FCm Travel Solutions parent Flight Centre reported 18 percent growth in half-year profits before taxes of A$119.7 million (US$121.8 million) for the period ending Dec. 31, 2011. Australian travel conglomerate
Flight Centre reported "strongest growth from Australia, the United
Kingdom and Dubai, plus the Canada and U.S. corporate travel businesses,"
according to managing director Graham Turner. Total transaction value of travel
sales across the company's global portfolio increased 9 percent to A$6.2
billion (US$6.3 billion) as the company reported a 4 percent increase in
revenues on those sales to A$954.1 million (US$971 million), also compared to
the year-ago period. While the company said its U.S. operations generated a A$4
million (US$4.1 million) loss, officials noted that it marked a "52
percent reduction in overall U.S. losses" as compared to a year ago.
February 15, 2012 - 09:05 AM ET
Hogg Robinson Group recorded "essentially the same" client spending as the prior year in the October-January period, according to an interim financial statement. HRG noted continued high interest among customers in improved compliance and security monitoring and the growing appeal of end-to-end solutions, meeting and conference management and consolidated service centers. Publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange, the travel management company said it would meet previously disclosed profit expectations. "Client tenders are continuing at a high level and our new business pipeline remains strong," HRG said.
February 13, 2012 - 01:45 PM ET
Concur in Japan launched the Concur Expense spend management system. The Japanese version, which according to Concur was "developed specifically to meet the demands of the increasing number of corporations in Japan that are turning to cloud computing and mobile solutions to help them control expenses," abides by "all Japanese regulations and taxation practices" and includes local consultation and operational support. Its "unique" features include integration with "FeliCa-compatible commercial IC card readers," enabling automatic uploads into expense reports of transportation data (schedules, stations and fare information) from such Japanese contactless smart cards as Suica, PASMO and ICOCA. The company
last year established Concur Japan as a joint venture with venture capital firm SunBridge Corp. and minority investor Marc Benioff, chairman of Salesforce.com.