Amadeus hits first half out of the ballpark

Amadeus has come out of its first half of 2015 swinging, recording a revenue spike of more than 14%.

Hitting the €1976.8 million mark, the revenue was largely thanks to its airline business, with total air travel agency bookings up 10% against an industry increase of 4.9%. This then saw the EBITDA grow by 10.8% to €778.8 million.

“Distribution delivered strong revenue growth of 11.3% through a 1.9p.p. increase in global market share of air travel agency bookings,” Amadeus’ president and ceo Luis Maroto said.

“IT Solutions continued its track record for double-digit growth with a revenue increase of 22.3%, with Asia-Pacific remaining the driving force.”

“Our solid business model and our strong cash-flow generation have allowed us to make strategic acquisitions,” Maroto added.

“Earlier in the year we accelerated our growth in the Airport IT space with the acquisition of Air-Transport IT Services Inc. (AirIT), a leading company in the segment, with a portfolio of solutions used by 30 of the busiest 50 airports in the US.”

Geographically, western Europe is still its most important region, accounting for 39.5% of the air bookings. This is a slight drop from the 42.2% recorded last year. North America and Asia & Pacific have grown as a proportion in this half. The Middle East and Africa have fallen in volumes and percentage terms.

Airline IT is likely to grow in importance – operationally and financially – as a result of its $830 million purchase of Navitaire.

“Early in July we announced an agreement to acquire Navitaire, subject to approval by regulators, that once completed will give Amadeus a strong position in IT solutions for the low-cost carriers market,” Maroto said.

The Navitaire deal is expected to close in the last quarter of this year.

Other than its distribution and IT solutions units, Amadeus has a line of “new businesses”.

In the Hotel IT sector, InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (IHG) and Amadeus announced a partnership to develop a next-generation Guest Reservation System (GRS) that will shake up the technological foundations of the global hospitality industry.

“Amadeus has maintained its track record for growth in both revenues and profitability through a combination of market share expansion and growth in its businesses,” Maroto concluded.

“We look forward with confidence to the remainder of the year.”

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