Travel agency group Helloworld has revealed 125 of its franchise stores have closed down due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The stores have shut down over the past few months since border closures and lockdowns began, and represents about 5% of its agent network.
The company made the revelation as it announced it raised $50m in new equity.
In an update to investors, total turnover value is only a fraction of pre-pandemic levels, although it is gradually improving and expects to see a sizeable increase in bookings from September.
With some domestic travel resuming corporate business bookings have started picking up.
Helloworld suspended franchise and marketing fees for a full year from April 1 2020 to March 31 2021 to help struggling franchisees.
"The company’s diversified businesses, which include a mix of domestic and international leisure travel, corporate travel and wholesale travel operations, are positioned to benefit from a recovery in 2021 and 2022," Helloworld said in a stock market filing.
