Vista Global's Flohr answers Financial Times, Bloomberg reports

Vista Global Chairman Thomas Flohr answered stories in the Financial Times and Bloomberg over the past several days about the company’s finances, the possible sale of preferred equity, and the possibility of an IPO.

About a Bloomberg report this morning from Southeast Asia, Flohr told Richard Dean of DubaiEye 103.8, “We are always open to the right thing for the company, whether it’s staying private or if we have incoming interest for our equity.”

He added, “I still own about 84% of the company. We will always look at alternatives for the company.”

Bloomberg reiterated reports by 9fin that Vista Global was closing in on raising money by selling convertible preferred equity.

However, he nixed the IPO report, saying, “Right now, it’s not in the plan.”

Responding to the FT

Flohr also addressed the Financial Times report on its finances from last week.

After the host queried him on the FT headline, “VistaJet cash reserves drop as super-rich cut travel plans,” Flohr responded, “There’s a whole bunch of things to say about that.”

Regarding the super-rich cutting travel plans, Flohr said, “The business has been growing very strongly. We added 20% new members.”

He continued, “We started 2024 with 1,100 Program members. We finished the year with 1,330. That’s strong growth.”

Per the FT’s review of Vista Global’s finances, revenue through September increased 7% to around $2.1 billion.

Last October, Fitch reported that the privately held flight provider’s revenue increased from $2.39 billion in 2022 to $2.59 billion in 2023.

Flohr told the Dubai radio broadcast, “We don’t see any drop in average flying. If anything, there’s a massive change from full aircraft ownership to coming to us in a subscription business model.”

Regarding its bottom line, Flohr said, “We had some remaining payments to be made on the acquisitions we did in 2022 and 2023. Outside those payments the company was cash flow positive.”

While the FT reported Vista Global, parent of VistaJet and XO, turned a $1 million profit on $2.1 billion in revenues through the first three quarters of 2024, it attributed the turn from red ink to changes in how the company handles depreciation.

Per the FT:

‘For 2023, Vista changed auditors to PwC and altered the conservative depreciation schedules that (chairman and majority owner Thomas) Flohr has said contributed to Vista’s (net) losses. After cutting $135 million from Vista’s depreciation expense, the airline made slightly improved net losses of $139 million for the year and was judged a going concern.’

Speaking about cash, Flohr said this morning, “That was a snapshot of September 30. By year-end, the cash reserves were a lot higher than September 30.”

The FT reported Vista Global had $62 million in cash at the end of Q3.

However, it added, “With available capacity on a $230 million revolving credit facility, Vista reported access to available funds of $105 million at the end of September.”

‘Campaign against Vista’

Flohr also said, “I see this…as a campaign against Vista with some type of agenda behind it because too many times it’s just picking the negatives.”

He continued, “Let’s focus on the real facts. The facts are the company continues to grow. People are spending money. They are changing to a subscription business model, and the company is on a very, very healthy footing to continue to grow over another decade, two decades to come.”

Flohr said while about half of its fleet is based in the United States, its strength is its global presence.

“Half of our fleet is in America, but one of our USPs is we are a very global company. We are on every single continent. It’s global connectivity. It’s the top end of the market. With Vista, you can fly point-to-point with one-way pricing, and no other company offers that,” Flohr said.