Webjet shareholders vote to approve company’s demerger
Webjet shareholders have overwhelmingly approved a demerger which will create two new companies – WEB Travel and Webjet Group.
The proposed Webjet demerger will go ahead after 97.6 per cent of shareholders voted in favour
The company will be split into two ASX-listed entities: WEB Travel Group (trading with the original WEB ticker) and Webjet Group Limited (trading under the ticker WJL).
WEB Travel will own business-to-business arm WebBeds, while Webjet Group will run the consumer-facing operations such as booking sites, including Webjet OTA, GoSee and Trip Ninja.
At an extraordinary general meeting in Melbourne on Tuesday Webjet chairman Roger Sharp told shareholders the demerger would best enhance value for Webjet investors.
“The board’s decision to propose the demerger reflects an assessment of the attractive but divergent growth opportunities available to both businesses, and followed an extensive strategic review which considered various structural alternatives including a sale to a third party and an initial public offer,” he said. “On balance, it is the board’s view that separating the businesses into stand-alone entities with independent boards, management teams and capital structures, will best position each business to pursue their independent strategic priorities and growth agendas.”
Mr Sharp said that after the demerger, Webjet would be a pure-play global B2B travel business, led by divisions such as its WebBeds arm.
“Its WebBeds business is already one of the largest global players in the wholesale travel market with over 50,000 travel buyers across 140 source markets booking 17 million room nights across 500,000 worldwide hotels in fiscal 2024,” he said.
“WebBeds has a highly compelling product proposition, within an increasingly complex travel ecosystem, and continues to benefit from flywheel effects as its network of travel buyers and suppliers expands.” Shares in Webjet rose 13c to $7.60 on Tuesday.
Defence technology fund fires up amid Trump demands
Tech entrepreneur Steve Baxter says Donald Trump’s push for Western countries to spend more on their militaries will be a boon for his specialist defence venture capital fund Beaten Zone.
We’re buying less meat, cheaper brands as shopping bills soar
Shoppers are cutting back on dining out, switching to cheaper brands and relying on discounts and loyalty points as household budgets come under increasing strain, a new Coles survey reveals.