As travel resumes and restrictions lift, Aussie travel services company Helloworld (ASX: HLO) is finally getting some time in the spotlight after a couple of less-than-satisfactory years due to Covid. 

Its financials paint a pleasant picture with Helloworld’s year-to-date (YTD) revenue totalling $41.6 million, up 180% on the prior corresponding period. After an EBITDA loss of $3.3 million in Q1 FY22, the Company is bouncing back with unaudited EBITDA for the September 2022 quarter amounting to $5.3 million. 

In October alone, its EBITDA was $3.2 million, taking the YTD total EBITDA to $8.5 million. The positive earnings results have infused Helloworld with confidence, reaffirming its big goal to achieve an underlying EBITDA of $22 million to $26 million in FY23.

The Aussie lockdowns were among the strictest in the world. So it’s no surprise that people have taken to revenge spending since borders reopened. All the pent-up travel desires have come to the shore as is evidenced by Helloworld’s total transaction value (TTV) in September amounting to $561 million, up 352% on the same period last year. For October, the Company’s TTV was $227 million, taking the full-year result to $788 million.

These results provide a breather for the Company following the news of airline Qantas selling over $30 million worth of its shares in Helloworld on November 8 to prioritise its post-Covid recovery. This also prompted the exit of the Company’s Non-Executive Director Andrew Finch on November 9, who is also Qantas’s general counsel, thus leaving Helloworld casting around for its new non-exec Director. It found one in Aus’s political space. 

Helloworld has appointed former State member for Keysborough and Aussie politician Martin Pakula as an independent non-executive Director to the Board effective immediately. 

53-year-old Pakula resigned from his portfolio of responsibilities in July this year, along with many other Labour members leaving Daniel Andrews’s government. Dubbing politics an “all-consuming endeavour” in his statement, he decided to step down and focus on other ventures. In Victoria, he served a six and half year term as an MLC in the 2000s and a ten-year term as an MLA from 2013 to 2022. He has held many ministerial positions, from being the Minister of Racing to Minister of Tourism, Sport, Trade and even Business Precincts, among others, making him an asset to Helloworld. 

Welcoming Pakula, Chairman of Helloworld, Garry Hounsell, shared, “Mr Pakula brings a great deal of experience across a range of industries and across the political spectrum. He has served the people of Victoria faultlessly for many years and we are looking forward to his input to the ongoing development of Helloworld Travel”. 

Helloworld has been undertaking a management shake-up this year. Besides Pakula’s appointment, on May 2, it appointed Michael Smith as the Chief Financial Officer of the Company and Sylvie Moser as Company Secretary in March.

Pakula, whose Twitter bio lists all of his accomplishments—including “Bagger, Punter, Labor man”—is all set to add a new win to the list.