Sabre has reported a net loss of $312 million in the third quarter of 2020, citing the negative impact of COVID-19 on all metrics.
The distribution giant says that while revenue in its IT Solutions business has exceeded its distribution revenue, it is seeing improvements in bookings on 19 percentage points quarter-on-quarter.
Sabre reports consolidated revenue of $278 million in Q3 compared to $1 billion year-on-year with the decline attributed to air, hotel and other travel bookings across the world down because of the pandemic.
The company made an operating loss of $233 million, compared to operating income of $113 million in Q3 2019.
Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $104 million down 143% year-on-year.
Distribution revenue came in at $105 million, a decline of 84% year-on-year while IT Solutions revenue was $132 million down 46% year-on-year.
It says the impact of the pandemic has been offset somewhat by the decline in incentive expenses in its Travel Solutions business as well as reduced “headcount-related expenses” and a reduction in technology costs.
In June, Sabre announced a reduction in headcount of 800 which came on top of 400 employees who took voluntary severance or early retirement.
Sean Menke, president and CEO of Sabre, says:
"In the third quarter, we saw positive signs as GDS and hospitality bookings steadily improved, along with passengers boarded.
"We firmly believe there is pent-up demand for travel and that this is reflected in the relatively higher growth rates of regions with fewer restrictions. We also believe our technology transformation initiatives position us for accelerated commercial wins and increased profitability on the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic."
Speaking during an analysts call, Menke says he hasn't seen high failure rates in the travel agency community adding that there has been some consolidation.
He also talks about the partnership with Google and describes the work being done on the merchandizing side being a "Farelogix replacement."
In May, Sabre cancelled its planned acquisition of Farelogix following a ruling by the U.K. Competition & Markets Authority in April.