Trip.com slumps despite 72pc rise in profit

Staff reporter

Shares of Trip.com (9961) slumped by nearly 12 percent yesterday, despite posting an over 72 percent rise in net profit to 17.07 billion yuan (HK$18.31 billion) last year.

Net revenue for the year jumped by nearly 20 percent 53.38 billion yuan, thanks to strong travel demand, the online travel agency said in a filing yesterday.

It declared a dividend of 30 US cents (HK$2.34) and plans to buy back up to US$400 million worth of shares or American depositary receipts as part of its new capital return measures.

Accommodation reservation revenue was 21.6 billion yuan for the year, representing a 25 percent increase from 2023. The segment accounted for 40 percent of its total sales last year.

Turnover from transportation ticketing was also up by 10 percent to 20.3 billion yuan.

In the fourth quarter alone, the firm recorded a 66.3 percent increase in net income to 2.2 billion yuan. But adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization only grew by 4.4 percent to around 3 billion yuan.

Net revenue for the quarter rose by 23 percent to 12.7 billion yuan from the same period in 2023, but tumbled 20 percent from the previous three months, primarily due to seasonality, it said.

The agency said its international businesses experienced "robust" growth across all segments last quarter with outbound hotel and air ticket bookings recovering to more than 120 percent of the pre-Covid level.