Sabre has reported a 1% revenue dip of $777 million for the first quarter of 2025.
The company attributed the decline to lower revenue for its travel solutions business, which reported a 2% decrease in Q1 to $702 million. The travel solutions business blamed de-migrated carriers from its IT solutions and a decrease in air bookings for the drop.
Distribution revenue for the quarter was down 1% at $569 million, attributed to a decrease in air distribution bookings, while IT solutions revenue decreased 6% to $133 million because of the de-migrations. EBITDA for the travel solutions business came in at $184 million compared to $188 million in Q1 2024.
During an earnings call with financial analysts, Kurt Ekert, president and CEO of Sabre, said the revenue impact from the "softer dynamics" would be offset by "outperformance from our growth strategies."
He called out new airline content being distributed across the Sabre platform that is "above our initial expectations" as well as momentum in the payments business.
During Sabre Q4 and full-year earnings call in February, Ekert discussed a signing that would bring more than 30 incremental air distribution segments in 2025. Meanwhile, Sabre has won new business for its digital payments solutions with Ekert pointing to a 30% year-over-year increase in gross spending across the platform to $4 billion in Q1.
Hospitality solutions revenue and hotel distribution partially made up for the decline in travel solutions revenue with the business unit reporting revenue of $85 million, up 8% year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA for the segment hit $11 million, up from $8 million year-over-year.
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Last week, Sabre announced the sale of its hospitality solutions business to TPG for $1.1 billion, with net proceeds of $960 million expected from the sale. The deal is expected to close by the end of September 2025 with the proceeds used to reduce debt.
"The Sabre team continues to execute our strategy well, and we have started the year with solid business momentum. We have reaffirmed our full year 2025 expectations, including double digit year-on-year distribution bookings growth—despite a challenging macro environment," Ekert said in an earnings release.
"Our agreement to sell Hospitality Solutions is our latest action to strengthen our balance sheet, optimize our core airline IT and travel marketplace platforms and focus on long-term sustainable growth.”
Sabre reported operating income of $103 million, up 1 percentage point year-over-year and net income for $35 million. Adjusted EBITDA for Q1 increased 5% to $150 million year-over-year.
*This story was updated following Sabre's Q1 2025 analyst call.