EMEA drives uptick in Sabre bookings

Growth in bookings from the European, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) markets helped drive an increase in revenue for Sabre Travel Network, its latest quarter results have shown.

Bookings in EMEA were the strongest for Sabre Corporation’s Travel Network sector, which was also helped by the timing of Easter, with global bookings increasing 4.4% to 103 million in the quarter.

The corporation’s airline, hotel and GDS arms all showed higher revenue for the quarter as the technology firm said it expects to exceed its 2014 guidance.

The corporation posted a consolidated net loss of US$2.8 million for the quarter, an improvement compared to a net loss of US$15.8m year-on-year.

Its airline and hospitality solutions have seen revenue increase 8.8% to US$77 million year-on-year for Q1, with its Travel Network revenue seeing a rise of 3.5% to US$492m. The former saw its adjusted EBITDA improve 30.8% while the Travel Network was up 2.2%, with the company’s total adjusted EBITDA registering 4.6% down on last year to US$184m.

Sabre boarded 9.4% more passengers reaching 118m and secured contracts with American Airlines, US Airways and airberlin for its new SabreSonic reservations system. Vietnam Airlines, AirMalta, Cambodia Angkor Air and WestJet were among the airlines to renew or expand terms.

Sabre’s numbers have been heavily impacted by the Travelocity arm as the brand goes through a restructure and new marketing agreement with Expedia in the US. The Travelocity part of the business, which also includes lastminute.com, posted a loss of US$25m in adjusted EBITDA for the quarter compared to a US$9m loss in Q1 2013.

New product launches in the quarter included its Customer Experience Manager, Guest Connect Upsell and TripCase Corporate.

Sabre also completed its initial public offering (IPO) on the US stock market in April and expects to pay its first dividend in Q3 2014.

“Global travel industry growth was very healthy in the first quarter with our airline and hotel customers experiencing solid demand. Against this backdrop, Sabre’s portfolio of software and technology solutions, which are the broadest and deepest in the industry, continued to deliver value across the travel ecosystem,” said Tom Klein, Sabre CEO and President. “Our relentless focus on delivering value and innovation to our customers delivered first quarter performance ahead of our plan. Looking ahead, we expect to meet or exceed our guidance for 2014 and are positioned well to grow our businesses in the years to come.”