The Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) share price is lifting off today.
Shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) travel stock closed yesterday trading for $13.97. In morning trade on Thursday, shares are swapping hands for $15.19 each, up 8.7%.
For some context, the ASX 200 is up 0.7% at this same time.
Today's strong outperformance follows news of a strategic acquisition and an upgrade to Flight Centre's FY 2026 profit guidance.
Here's what's happening.
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Flight Centre share price lifts on acquisition news
This morning, Flight Centre reported it had agreed to acquire the United Kingdom-based online cruise agency Iglu.
Flight Centre will pay 100 million pounds (AU$201 million) upfront for Iglu, and up to 27 million pounds in performance-based earnouts.
The company said the acquisition will accelerate its growth ambitions into the "highly attractive cruise sector", noting it will deliver scale, advanced technology, and broader access to the UK, which is the world's third-largest cruise market.
The Flight Centre share price could get long-term support from the acquisition, with the company indicating that sales at both Flight Centre and Iglu have increased 15% to 20% year on year, "driven by a resilient customer base and a supply chain that is investing heavily in new ships and partnerships".
The company also highlighted Iglu's strong margin profile with a 3.1% FY 2025 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin. That compares favourably to the 2.2% EBITDA margin across Flight Centre's leisure division.
With the Iglu acquisition, Flight Centre's cruise-related total transaction value (TTV) will almost double to more than $2 billion (annualised) during FY 2026. That's two years ahead of the company's previous plan.
Commenting on the Iglu acquisition that looks to be helping boost the Flight Centre share price today, managing director Graham Turner said:
This acquisition delivers immediate shareholder value through EPS accretion and is a game-changer in terms of the future opportunities it unlocks in the global cruise market. Iglu brings a strong brand and a scalable technology platform that aligns with FLT's strategic objectives.
Iglu CEO David Gooch, who will continue to lead the business post-acquisition, added, "By leveraging Iglu's world-leading ecommerce platform alongside Flight Centre's global experience, we are perfectly positioned to capture market share."
The acquisition remains subject to a number of procedural steps, but management expects it to be completed today.
What else is boosting the ASX 200 travel share?
The Flight Centre share price is also getting a lift today following upgraded full-year profit guidance.
Management now expects FY 2026 underlying profit before tax (UPBT) to be in the range of $315 million to $350 million. That's up from prior guidance of $305 million to $340 million.
The mid-point of the new profit range would mark 15% growth on FY 2025's $289.1 million UPBT result.
