Sabre had a solid start to the year, recording a 21% rise in revenue to US$859.5 million in the first quarter 2016, compared to US$710.3 million for the same period last year.
Tom Klein: Company on course to meet full-year objectives. (Image credit: Sabre)
Consolidated income from continuing operations totalled US$92.9 million, compared to US$49.3 million in the first quarter of 2015.
Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation) was US$287.5 million, an 18% increase from US$243.6 million in the same period last year.
The company said the positive consolidated Adjusted EBITDA was the result of increases of 17.7% in Travel Network that experienced gains in every region, and 16% in Airline and Hospitality Solutions.
“Our solid start to the year sets us on a course to meet our full-year operational and financial objectives,” said Tom Klein, Sabre president and CEO.
“Our focus on creating platforms for innovation and enabling our customers’ success continues to drive our growth. The breadth of our software solutions and depth of our customer relationships uniquely positions us to continue to define and lead the travel technology industry.”
Highlights of Q1 results:
- Travel Network revenue increased by 23%, while bookings increased 28%.
- Travel Network growth was driven by last year’s Abacus acquisition and bookings growth across much of the world, driving global market share up 1.7% to 37.4%.
- The Airline and Hospitality Solutions business saw revenue increased 16%.
- 183 million passengers were boarded using the SabreSonic reservations system – a growth of 45% year-over-year. The American Airlines migration in Q4 2015 and Air Seychelles SabreSonic migration in March 2016 contributed to this increase
- In January 2016 Sabre closed its acquisition of Trust Group, taking the number of hotel properties using Sabre’s guest reservations system to over 30,000 worldwide
- Significant progress on the rollout of the SynXis property management system in the first quarter with hundreds of properties live, and implementation continued at Wyndham Hotel Group that, operates more than 7,800 hotel properties worldwide
- In Asia Pacific the integration of the Abacus business into Travel Network continued to help drive growth, and the strong market share in the region gives the company a platform for new business development.
- EMEA led global Travel Network growth where bookings, driven by new agency conversions and solid share gains, increased 12% – more than five times the overall GDS market growth in the region.
“We continue to innovate to enable change in the industries we serve while earning a greater share of the technology spend in those growing sectors,” said Klein during a conference call to investors on April 28.
“We are seeing very positive customer response to our new product offerings and our ability to execute on our customers’ behalf.”
Two of these new products are Sabre Red Workspace 3.0 in Travel Network and Revenue Optimiser in Airlines Solutions.
