Numbers point north for Amadeus in first financials of 2013 despite challenging marketplace

Amadeus announced its financial and operating results this week for the first quarter of 2013 (three months ended March 31, 2013).

Adjusted profit for the first quarter increased 5% to reach Euro 176.3 million. This was backed by growth in revenue of 4% to Euro 795.0 million and a 5.3% rise in EBITDA to Euro 323.4 million.

Consolidated net financial debt was further reduced to Euro 1,440.8 million as of March 31, 2013. This was down by Euro 54.4 million vs December 31, 2012 and represented 1.28x the last twelve month's EBITDA.

Based upon existing contracts, Amadeus estimates that by 2015 the number of Passengers Boarded (PB) will be more than 800 million, which would represent an increase of almost 42% vs. the 564 million PB processed on the Altéa platform during 2012.

President and CEO Luis Maroto says:

"The markets we operate in continue to be highly challenging, but our strong business model and unrivalled product portfolio continue to allow us to make good progress. Our transaction-based business model of recurring revenues has proven to be resilient while our global customer footprint remains a strength. "We remain cautiously optimistic about the rest of 2013 and feel well positioned to benefit from the likely macro-economic recovery, which would allow revenue and contribution to grow further across both businesses."

Share this quote

Highlights Q1 2013 - Distribution

Distribution revenue increased by 2.4%, rising to Euro 612.2 million, whilst the number of air travel agency bookings improved by 2.9% to 119.3 million – supported by Amadeus expanding its global market share of travel agency air bookings by 1.6% to reach 39.8%.

1) Airlines

• Content agreements were signed with a number of airlines including Alitalia, British Airways, China Airlines, Estonian Air, Iberia, Iberia Express, Insel Air and Insel Air Aruba, LOT Polish Airlines, Mandarin Airlines, Al Masria, Pegasus Asia, Seaborne and Silver Airways.
• Significant growth continued in the area of low-cost carrier bookings. Total bookings of LCCs from travel agencies via the Amadeus system increased by 22% during the period compared with the same quarter last year.

Thalys:

• Amadeus was selected by Thalys, the international high-speed rail operator connecting Paris and Brussels with Germany and the Netherlands, to expand distribution through the travel agency channel.
• Starting in Germany, Thalys' content will be available alongside airlines on selected routes in the Amadeus neutral booking display for travel agents and corporate bookers.
• Users of Amadeus Selling Platform, Amadeus’ point of sale for travel agents, and Amadeus e-Travel Management, the company self-booking tool for corporate users, will have access to the full range of Thalys’ fares, including corporate negotiated fares, schedules and availability to effectively compare Thalys high speed rail services with flights on specific routes.

• Amadeus was selected by Cabforce, a leading network of flat-rate pre-booked cabs provider, to make pre-booked airport transfer and taxi bookings available to travel agencies, TMCs and corporations using the Amadeus e-Travel Management and Amadeus Selling Platform Connect.

• Travel Expert Limited, Hong Kong’s leading and most extensive retail travel network, successfully implemented the Amadeus suite of solutions across more than 60 retail sites in Hong Kong – making it the largest ever implementation for a GDS in Hong Kong.

IT Solutions revenue grew by 9.8%, rising to Euro 182.9 million, helped by further migrations resulting in 13.6% more Passengers Boarded (PB), reaching 131.7 million.

Airline sign-ups included SriLankan Airlines, the national carrier of Sri Lanka, while new Electronic Miscellaneous Document (EMD)  customers included Adria Airways and SATA Group.

Loans

The financial results follow the announcement last week of the European Investment Bank (EIB) granting a second loan to Amadeus.

The unsecured loan of Euro150 million has a nine year maturity and will be used by Amadeus to finance research and development (R&D) activities in its distribution business line between 2013 and 2015.

This loan is in addition to a previous Euro 200 million loan received by Amadeus from the EIB in May last year.