Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) shares are on the rise on Wednesday morning.
At the time of writing, the travel agent giant's shares are up 7% to $12.94.
Why are Flight Centre shares jumping?
Investors have been fighting to get hold of the company's shares today after responding positively to the release of a trading update at its annual general meeting.
In its presentation, Flight Centre's managing director, Graham Turner, revealed that the company has started FY 2026 positively. He said:
FY26 is off to a positive start, with first-quarter results and preliminary October trading data confirming momentum across both corporate and leisure segments.
Corporate is strong, with FCM securing a pipeline of account wins totaling almost $400million, Asia returning to modest profitability and the business globally delivering further productivity gains. First quarter TTV increased almost 7% with a 5% average FTE reduction.
And while Turner notes that the Leisure segment isn't out of the woods just yet, there are positive signs that the recovery is coming. He adds:
Leisure TTV is also growing at a healthy rate, but the temporary travel pattern shifts that emerged late last year continue to impact year-on-year profit comparisons, which is in line with our expectations.
We are, however, starting to see signs of recovery, which is a positive signal ahead of our peak second half trading periods. Bookings from Australia to the US increased in October 2025 for the first time since the March quarter and Flight Centre's Big Red Sale, which finished yesterday in Australia, delivered promising results ahead of the upcoming Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Travel Tuesday sales.
FY 2026 guidance
Flight Centre revealed that it is targeting an underlying profit before tax of $305 million to $340 million in FY 2026. This represents a 5.5% to 17.6% increase on what it achieved in the prior corresponding period.
However, the company is joining the growing second-half club, with management expecting a flat result in the first half, followed by a stronger performance in the second. Turner explains:
First half earnings are likely to be broadly in line with last year's $119.7million adjusted underlying profit before tax, as indicated previously, with solid corporate profit growth to be offset by a leisure profit decrease, reflecting the more volatile climate early in FY26 compared to the same period in FY25.
Higher net interest costs for the half will also slightly increase Other Segment losses. Our profit expectations for the half and full years imply a second-half profit skew, which reflects our traditional seasonality – key profit and booking months are typically during the six months to June 30.
