Qantas Airways Limited (QAN) Q2 2026 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning and welcome to the first half Financial Year 2026 Investor and Analyst Results Briefing. My name is Philip Kiddin. I'm the Group Head of Investor Relations at the Qantas Group. I'd like to now hand over to our Chief Executive Officer, Vanessa Hudson, to take you through the results. Thank you, Phil, and good morning to everyone. Thanks for joining us today at the Qantas Group Half Year 2026 Investor and Analyst Briefing. I am joined by Rob Markalina, our CFO, who will be assisting me in presenting the results today, but I'm also joined by our entire leadership team. Today's briefing will only be in audio format and Rob and I will take you through a number of the key slides in our materials that we lodged today, but then we will open to questions. We will start on slide four of our presentation with our results highlight. This has been another half year defined by execution. Our focus continues to be on delivering for our customers, our people and shareholders. By delivering these strong results for earnings, we can invest in the largest fleet renewal in our history. In summary, our underlying profit before tax for the half was up 71 million on last year. Our earnings per share at 68 cents was up 7%. Operating cash flow was strong at 1.8 billion. And we are delighted to announce that the Board has also improved an interim shareholder distribution of up to $450 million. This includes a fully franked base dividend of $300 million, an increase of $50 million, and an on-market share buyback of up to $150. Our performance is driven by three factors. One, the strong demand for travel across Australia and internationally. Two, the reinforcing strength of our integrated portfolio, which includes our premium and low fares airlines alongside a world-leading loyalty...