November, 6: Amadeus IT Holding, S.A., a leading technology partner for the global travel industry, reports year-on-year financial and operating results for the first nine months of 2014 (nine months ended September 30, 2014).
Revenue increased 9.4%, to €2,585.0 million. Excluding the acquisitions of Newmarket International, UFIS Airport Solutions, and i:FAO Aktiengesellschaft, comparable growth stood at 6.8%.
EBITDA grew 9.3%, to €1,037.5 million. Excluding acquisitions, comparable growth reached 7.0%.
In the Distribution business, total air travel agency bookings expanded 4.5%, to 356.2 million.
In the IT Solutions business, Passengers Boarded increased 14.1%, to 519.7 million.
Luis Maroto, President & CEO of Amadeus, commented:“Amadeus’ core businesses continued to show strength during the third quarter. The partnership with Ryanair is a landmark deal that underlines the company’s growth commitment in the low-cost and hybrid carriers´ segment. Travel agency bookings in this area have increased 17% in 2014, maintaining the fast growth rate registered in recent years. Overall, Amadeus’ market share in air travel agency bookings has again increased reaching 40.4%."
“The Asia Pacific region continued to be the main growth driver in the Airline IT business. Passengers boarded with airlines using the Altéa Suite in the region now represent over 22% of total passengers boarded, a figure that will continue to expand in the future with additional airlines’ migrations such as Japan Airlines. Passengers boarded will also see significant growth in the United States with the future migration of Southwest domestic flights to the Altéa Platform.
“Furthermore, our strategy of growth and diversification into new IT areas is already bearing fruit: the acquisitions of Newmarket International (Hotel IT) and UFIS (Airport IT) are now contributing positively to our business and to the execution of our strategy. In the payments area, an important milestone was reached with the agreement signed with UnionPay International – the Chinese and largest card scheme worldwide with over 4.3 billion cards in circulation – to integrate its cards into the Amadeus Payment Platform (APP).”
Business highlights in the third quarter
Distribution
Revenue increased 4.2%, to €1,861.5 million
Air travel agency bookings rose 4.5%, to 356.2 million
Market share expanded by 0.4 percentage points, reaching 40.4%
Air travel agency industry bookings grew 4.0% in the third quarter of 2014, an acceleration vs. the 2.6% growth reported in the first six months of the year. Year-to-date the industry growth showed a 3.1% increase.
Our air travel agencies bookings grew 6.1% in the third quarter of 2014 and 4.5% year to date. Amadeus continued outperforming the industry, supported by our significant market share gains of 0.8 p.p. in the third quarter. As of September 30, 2014 our global market share was 40.4%, 0.4 p.p. higher when compared to the same period of 2013.
Key to the distribution business is the breakthrough agreement reached with Ryanair which brings a wide range of its fares and full ancillary services to Amadeus´ travel agency subscribers for the first time in over a decade.
Distribution agreements were also signed with two new hybrid and low-cost airlines during the quarter and today 79 low-cost carriers have chosen Amadeus as their distribution partner. Travel agency bookings for low-cost carriers increased 17% year-on-year during the period.
Nine content agreements with full-service carriers were signed or renewed as part of Amadeus’ on-going commitment to provide our global travel agency subscribers with a comprehensive range of fares, schedules and availability.
IT Solutions
Revenue grew 21.2%, to €723.5 million. Excluding acquisitions, revenue increased 14.9% to €664.6 million.
Passengers Boarded progressed by 14.1% to total 519.7 million.
Airline IT:
There are currently 132 airlines around the world which have contracted for both Altéa Reservation and Altéa Inventory, 117 of which have contracted to use the full Altéa Suite. Based upon these contracts, Amadeus estimates that by 2017 the number of annual contracted Passengers Boarded will be close to one billion.
Airport IT:
During the third quarter, Amadeus has signed seven new ground handlers to its Departure Control System, bringing the total figure to 80.
