Wotif and Country Road profits soar while Virgin Blue and OZ Minerals suffer

It’s been another good day for financial results, with online accommodation provider Wotf.com recording a 26% rise in after tax profit to $43.5 million, while retailer Country Road also posted a $15.6 million profit.

Wotif chief executive Robbie Cook said the company has performed well due to more consumers searching for bargains during a recession, and expects the business to grow.

“The growing shift from offline to online sales is expected to be a significant driver of future growth for the business over the next five years,” the company said.

It announced 6.33 million hotel room bookings have been sold during 2008-09, an increase from 4.91 million last year, with all transactions valued at $993 million. Total revenue grew 29% to $121.3 million.

“We believed our model would continue to resonate with consumers in a down cycle. We expected that consumers would, more than ever, be focussed on value and as a result would be drawn to the compelling value available online,” Cook said in a statement.

“Our thinking was that consumers would take shorter breaks, travel more domestically, transact in the last-minute space, and would move to the online environment to secure best value for their accommodation and other travel needs. These theories seemed sound, but we were definitely in unchartered waters.”

Cook also picked up a $500,000 bonus for his efforts at the company, with his total remuneration reaching $1.7 million for the year ending 30 June.

The executive picked up a total of $1.7 million for his work at Wotif in the year to 30 June, making him one of the best-paid dotcom executives in Australia.

Wotif chief information officer Mandy Ross, also won a substantial pay rise, with her total remuneration growing about $76,000 to reach $293,660. A number of other Wotif executives also picked up sizeable pay increases over the past year.

In a statement issued this morning, the company said it had sold 6.33 million room nights over the past year, compared with 4.91 million in 2008. It now acts as a middle man for more than 14,500 hotels and other providers of accommodation and claims to have successfully integrated its travel.com.au and Asia Web Direct acquisitions, which provide relatively similar services.

Meanwhile, retail chain Country Road has recorded a full-year net profit of $15.6 million, a massive 60.4% increase, as it announced chief executive Ian Moir will step down from the company.

The company said in a statement Moir will take over at Woolworths Holdings in South Africa, the company’s major shareholder.

“He will remain on the board of Country Road Ltd as a non-executive director and will take over from Simon Susman as chief executive of Woolworths Holdings Limited in November 2010,” it announced.

But the results weren’t so good elsewhere, with Virgin Blue Holdings recording a net loss of $160 million due to falling passenger volumes.

But the company said in a statement its cost-cutting measures, fleet redeployment, strength in its capital position and revised strategies have helped it prepare for recovery. Virgin also claimed it had managed to achieve a 4.5% reduction in cost per seat kilometre, excluding fuel.

“Notwithstanding further economic deterioration and based on current market conditions, the group result for FY10 is expected to be breakeven, with a positive group cash inflow (excluding proceeds from the recent equity raising),” it said.

“While airlines have been variously impacted by the global economic crisis, our approach was to respond swiftly and definitively to softening domestic demand,” chief executive Brett Godfrey said in a statement.

Finally, mining giant OZ Minerals recorded a $580.7 million half year loss, most of which occurred during the sale of assets to Chinese-owned Minmetals. The company also said costs were incurred from debt refinancing and transactions.

“A net financial expense of $95.7 million was incurred during the period related largely to bank loan facilities and refinancing activities,” it said in a statement.

“While commodity prices improved throughout the period, copper prices were on average 50% lower than the same period last year. Similarly, zinc prices were on average 42% lower than the same period last year.”

It also announced it had $1 billion in cash as of 30 June, with debt levels of about $125 million.