Amadeus is feeling optimistic about the future.
The technology company confirmed a positive outlook for the remainder of the year, it said while reporting strong financial results Tuesday morning.
Amadeus, which provides distribution, payments, marketing, traveler management and analytics software to help power the travel industry, said the first nine months have proven to be positive financially.
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Year over year, group revenue was up 23.2% to €4.1 billion, EBITDA rose 33.8% to €1.6 billion and its adjusted profit grew by 67.6% to €875.8 million, Amadeus said in a release shared early Tuesday.
For the third quarter of 2023 specifically, Amadeus reported a 14.5% rise in revenue, 21.6% rise in EBITDA and a 43.6% rise in adjusted profit over the same period last year.
President and CEO Luis Maroto said the results were driven by “strong operating performances,” adding that during the third quarter commercial wins and the “progressive strengthening of the travel industry” were factors that fortified Amadeus’ business.
“Our revenue, EBITDA, and adjusted profit continued to grow, which has supported a strong cash flow generation,” he said. “Thanks to this financial strength, we are launching our new share repurchase program covering over 8.8 million Amadeus shares or about €625 million.”
While Maroto shared positive results, he also delivered a cautiously positive outlook: “Although we continue to monitor the macroeconomic and geopolitical situation, we can confirm our outlook for the year and remain optimistic about the growth opportunities ahead of us.”
Maroto also referenced what the company has been working on in his remarks, including Amadeus' partnership with Microsoft and Accenture to develop generative AI, which was initially announced in September. The trio is working on generative AI "power integrations" for the corporate world and aims to make corporate travel easier and includes work on a tool to integrate an expense management tool into Microsoft Teams.
"The new traveler system will leverage Microsoft technologies to assist corporate travelers with elements of their journey," Maroto said.
Before laying out its vision for airline retailing last month - which will require an evolution in airline systems - Amadeus spent the first half of the year ramping up research and development. R&D was up 20% year over year, the company said when sharing financial results for the second quarter. That jump was significant given Amadeus’ gross investment in R&D in 2022 reached €1 billion for the first time.
Part of that R&D was meant to focus on the evolution of Amadeus’ partnership with Microsoft and its shift to the cloud. At the time it was announced in 2021, Amadeus said its move to the cloud would take three to five years. With Microsoft, Amadeus also set out to work on boosting productivity, data and disruption, it said in December 2021.