Flight Centre down on price-fixing case -- should you buy?

Flight Centre down on price-fixing case — should you buy?

Case outcome should have little effect on 2014 result.

Andrew Mudie

Andrew joined the growing team of Motley Fool freelance writers in mid-2013 following years of personal development as a passionate self-taught sharemarket investor. At the time, Andrew was an engineer by trade, writer by hobby, and an investing nerd by passion who spent far too many breaks reading, writing and learning. Andrew’s first investing lesson came with his first stock selection in 2011 when takeover rumours caused a spike and subsequent plunge in the share price of Woodside and then the 21% fall in the market through mid-2011. The next four years of investing saw Andrew dabble in a vast array of strategies until settling on his favourite investment methodology, which is closely aligned with that of the Motley Fool: Fundamentals-based long-term buy-and-hold of great companies at great prices.

Published December 9, 2013 7:00 am AEDT

Flight Centre (ASX: FLT) shares dropped 8% in early trade on Friday after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) won a court case against the online giant.

Flight Centre was found guilty of attempting to fix prices with international airlines to stop the airlines undercutting the company and reducing its margins. Investors took the opportunity to snare shares in the company at a reduced price and pushed the share price up 5% during the day to close at only 3% down.

The ACCC case relates to communications between Flight Centre and Singapore Airlines, Malaysian Airlines and Emirates between 2005 and 2009. Flight Centre was found guilty of attempting on six occasions to induce the three airlines to stop directly offering and booking international fares on their own websites at prices below that available to Flight Centre.

This was a problem because at the time Flight Centre had a price-beat guarantee that offered to beat competitor airfares by $1 and give the customer a $20 voucher. Lower prices from the airlines caused a problem for Flight Centre as it eroded margins.

Managing Director Graham Turner said that the company would consider fighting the ruling while it waits for the December 19 decision on whether any financial penalties should be applied.

Mr Turner said that he was surprised at the ruling, which will likely have wide-ranging impacts for the travel industry and parallel industries. Mr Turner believes that asking the airlines for access to all cheap flights is logical seeing as Flight Centre provides a significant source of free marketing and advice to the travelling public.

Foolish takeaway

Even after the fall on Friday, Flight Centre has been a great performer in 2013, rising from $27 at the end of last year to over $52 in October and now rests at $46 after falling on Friday. This represents a rise of over 70% and as the charges relate to events between 2005 and 2009 the ruling is unlikely to have any impact on Flight Centre's operations. Estimates on the financial penalty expected are few and far between, however Flight Centre's excellent cash flow should mean that any reasonable penalty would be easily absorbed by the company's profits.

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