Web Travel (WEB) is a global B2B travel technology company that was carved out of Webjet in 2024. Its WebBeds platform connects hotels with travel agents, tour operators and online travel businesses, making it one of the world’s largest hotel bed wholesalers. WEB surged +11% on Wednesday, albeit off an extremely low base, which at least took the company’s valuation back above $1bn.
Web Travel delivered a better-than-expected FY26 result in late May, with the key surprise coming from a strong 7.1% second-half revenue-to-TTV margin, well above expectations and evidence that its strategy of increasing directly contracted hotel inventory is gaining traction. Despite a softer macro backdrop and ongoing Middle East uncertainty, the company continues to outgrow the broader travel market, with TTV rising +20% to $5.8 billion and earning (EBITDA) increasing 23% to $148 million. Management highlighted productivity gains and stronger booking conversion, while maintaining FY27 margin guidance of at least 6.5%.
Web Travel has significant exposure to the Middle East through its WebBeds business, with Dubai serving as a critical operational and travel hub. The region accounted for close to half of FY26 revenue, making the easing of travel warnings a meaningful positive for sentiment towards the stock.
Although short-term risks remain around another Middle East flare-up and potential AI disruption, WEB continues to execute strongly and, trading on around 12x forward earnings while delivering more than 20% EPS growth, the valuation remains attractive, but as we know, the market has been ruthless around the “AI Disruption Trade”.
- We like WEB as a business, it’s cheap if it doesn’t fall foul of “AI Disruption”, a big “if” in the current environment.
