Spain’s HBX shares plunge after full-year guidance revision

By Javi West Larrañaga and Mireia Merino

(Reuters) -Shares in Spanish travel technology firm HBX Group plunged as much as 25.6% on Wednesday, on track for their biggest-ever daily decline, after the group revised its full-year guidance as a result of the macroeconomic backdrop and a weaker U.S. dollar.

In a trading update, the company downgraded its expected 2025 revenue to between 720 million euros ($830 million) and 740 million, from a previous guidance of between 740 million euros and 790 million.

It also revised down its total transaction value, now expected to grow by 6%-9% instead of the 6%-10% projected at its initial public share offering in February.

HBX, which buys hotel lodgings, car rentals and other products and resells them in bulk to travel agencies and retailers, said the conflict in the Middle East resulted in double-digit declines in bookings for destinations such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

It also highlighted a 3% drop in revenue in the U.S. as a result of the weaker currency and lower demand in the country.

Chief Executive Nicolas Huss said on a call with analysts the company was already seeing a strong double-digit increase in bookings for 2026, adding that recovery in the travel sector does not usually take more than one season.

After a lacklustre start on the Spanish stock exchange, shares in the company have failed to pick up and are now around 20% lower than on their February debut.

The group also said in its trading update that revenue in the April-June period, the third quarter of its financial year, was up 3% year-on-year.

($1 = 0.8661 euros)

(Reporting by Javi West Larrañaga and Mireia Merino in Gdansk; Editing by Sharon Singleton and David Holmes)

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