Kelsian received a total of $20.94 million in JobKeeper payments in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 financial years before the scheme’s end in March 2021 to support about 970 jobs in Australia – the highest amount of any SA-headquartered listed company.
Publicly listed South Australian companies received almost $55 million in JobKeeper payments during the COVID-19 pandemic toxjmtzyw support more than 2500 jobs.
Only three companies – Santos, Maggie Beer Holdings and Adbri (formerly Adelaide Brighton) – have repaid the money.
Kelsian changed its name from SeaLink Travel Group last October to better reflect the changing nature of its business, increased its revenue in the six months to December 31 to $649 million, up from $570 million the previous year.
Kelsian is an anagram of SeaLink, which it says was a factor in the name choice to reflect the company’s history that began in 1989 with the operation of one ferry to Kangaroo Island.
In January 2020, the company acquired Transit Systems Group for $635 million, Australia’s largest private operator of public bus networks, with established operations in London and Singapore.
Kelsian is best known in South Australia for its operation of the SeaLink Kangaroo Island ferry service.
The $79 million revenue increase in the six months to the end of December was offset by a $73 million increase in expenses, which included a $3.8 million increase in direct wages, an $8.3 million spike in fuel costs and a $5.8 million jump in administration expenses.
It also invested $21.1 million to replace its bus fleet and advance ship builds, including the arrival of a new dining vessel for Sydney Harbour.
Kelsian will pay shareholders a fully franked interim dividend of 7 cents per share on March 31.
In a statement to the ASX yesterday, the company said it continued to be focused on growing its contract portfolio and continuing its acquisition strategy.
“Despite the emerging cost base pressures particularly around fuel and wages, the majority of the business has contracted indexed price adjustment structures that hedge these exposures,” it said.
“The employment market remained extremely tight and a focus was placed on retention of all employees, even in the absence of a government support scheme, so the business is well-positioned to ramp up capacity when demand requires.”
A London SeaLink bus in Trafalgar Square. Picture: Stefano Broli
Group CEO Clint Feuerherdt said the company’s contracted Australian bus operations had continued to provide a solid foundation for business growth.
However, he said COVID-19 restrictions and uncertainty had been most challenging to its tourism-related businesses.
“Government support has been significantly scaled back or ended and not yet been replaced by demand from interstate and overseas travel due to ongoing restrictions and fear of travel created by the emergence of the more virulent Omicron variant,” Feuerherdt said.
