Serko reported 19 percent year-over-year growth in online bookings for its 2024 fiscal year, and the travel technology company said it is on track to be cash-positive this year.
Online bookings for Serko's fiscal year, which ended March 31, totaled 4.9 million, compared with 4.1 million in the 2023 fiscal year. That includes 13 percent growth year over year in online bookings in the Australasia region to 3.9 million total bookings, where business travel volumes were "higher than expected" in the first half of the year, Serko said. One of Australia's largest corporate travel accounts, global mining group Rio Tinto, went live on Serko's Zeno tool in the first half of the year via American Express Global Business Travel, according to Serko chief executive and cofounder Darrin Grafton.
Serko also reported year-over-year growth of 65 percent in completed room nights for Booking.com for Business, for which Serko is the technology partner. Room nights totaled 2.5 million in the 2024 fiscal year, compared with 1.5 million the prior fiscal year. Active customers on the platform increased 10 percent to 172,000, and revenue per completed room night was up 4 percent, according to Serko.
Serko last month announced a five-year renewal of its partnership with Booking.com. "We are now focused on executing the plans with Booking.com to deliver further growth through customer acquisition and activation and expansion of the product offering," Grafton said in a video message released along with the earnings announcement.
Serko reported revenue of NZ$68.8 million (US$42.3 million), up 48 percent year over year, as operating expenses declined 8 percent. Its net loss for the fiscal year was NZ$15.9 million (US$9.8 million), an improvement of 48 percent. Serko's monthly cash burn improved 78 percent to NZ$0.6 million (US$370,000) with higher-revenue limited-cost growth, and Serko expects it will be cashflow-positive this year.
"Our balance sheet is in a strong position," according to Grafton. "We have NZ$80.6 million [US$49.5 million] of cash on hand as of the end of the financial year, zero debt and our underlying monthly cash burn has dropped significantly."
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