Amadeus Global Travel Distribution (AMS: Madrid), a leading Global Distribution System (GDS) and travel industry technology provider, today reported its third quarter 2002 results for the period ended 30 September 2002.

Jose Antonio Tazon, President and CEO - Amadeus
Total revenue for the third quarter ended 30 September 2002 was EUR 449.3m, an increase of 6.2 per cent over the same period in 2001.

Overall bookings for the third quarter were 93.2 million, an increase of 4.8 per cent on the same period last year.  In Europe, total bookings recovered strongly with growth of 7.1 per cent for the period.  In contrast, conditions in the North American market remained difficult.

Operating expenses for the third quarter were EUR 374.7m, 1.6 per cent ahead of the same quarter in 2001.

Operating income for the quarter was EUR 74.6m, a 37.4 per cent increase on the third quarter of 2001, reflecting the need for significantly higher provisions for doubtful debts in the third quarter of 2001.  EBITDA for the third quarter was EUR 117.6m, a 23.3 per cent increase on the equivalent period in 2001.


Net income for the third quarter ended 30 September 2002, excluding special items, was EUR 27.6m, an increase of 32.4 per cent on the same quarter last year.

3rd Quarter 2002 - Operating Highlights

á Overall, Amadeus increased its global market share of air bookings, made through travel agencies, by 1.3 percentage points during the period.  In Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East and globally the company’s market share grew ahead of its peers.

á Amadeus announced the acquisition of SMART AB from SAS Group, by increasing its shareholding in the business from 5 to 100 per cent. As Northern Europe’s leading distributor of travel, SMART processes almost 80 per cent of travel agency bookings in Scandinavia, Latvia and Lithuania, which represents the fifth largest market for Amadeus and one of major strategic importance.

á Finnair confirmed its plans to migrate its passenger service systems, for inventory and departure control, to the Amadeus new generation airline IT solution, joining fellow oneworld carriers British Airways and Qantas. Finnair also signed a new 10 year partnership agreement, whereby it continues to use the unique Amadeus sales and reservations system and Electronic Ticket Server (ETS).

á British Airways (BA) successfully cut over to the Amadeus ETS in August.  This central application and database of electronic ticketing records enables airlines like BA to save an estimated 80 per cent, minimum, in e-ticket system maintenance costs.

á Following the second quarter 2002 launch of new Dynamic Access for seamless connectivity to hotel inventories, and a strong marketing campaign to travel agents, launch partner Marriott International is already seeing results. In September its bookings via Amadeus Hotels grew by 23 per cent compared to the same month last year.

á Amadeus teamed with HitchHiker Software, the European leader in fare data management to provide a simple to use fare administration solution to cut the time that travel companies need to file, manage and update fares by up to 80 per cent.

á The latest version of e-Travel® Aergo (Global) V4.0, the world’s most widely deployed online self-booking travel solution for corporations and travel agencies, was released by Amadeus e-Travel. Designed to simplify travel management, it is currently used in more than 20 countries, enabling employees to plan and book complete travel itineraries within a highly secure online environment and following their companies’ travel policy.

á In September, Amadeus e-Travel signed a global agreement with Robert Bosch GmbH, one of Germany’s largest corporations.  Under this agreement, e-Travel will provide Bosch’s 40,000 travellers with the ability to make their travel arrangements through SAP Travel Planning, which uses the Amadeus GDS.  This represents the largest ever corporate account win for e-Travel and comes shortly after the partnership between Amadeus e-Travel and SAP AG was extended.

á During the quarter, Amadeus e-Travel launched a flexible web fares solution through a strategic alliance with FareChase, the leading provider of web automation technology. This solution offers e-Travel’s corporate and business travel agency customers access to travel providers and online travel inventory, including no-frills airlines, not otherwise available through traditional distribution channels.

 

Outlook

The travel and tourism industry continues to recover from the lows seen in the previous year, albeit with significant regional differences in the pace of improvement.  Against this background, the company’s broad geographic spread of business and mix of effective customer solutions continues to serve it well.  Following further good progress in the third quarter, Amadeus is now raising its forecast for bookings growth, for the year to 31 December 2002, from 1.2 to 2.0 per cent. The 2002 revenue target has been increased from EUR 1,822m to EUR 1,840m, target EBITDA for 2002 has been raised from EUR 458m to EUR 470m.  The net income projection for the full year 2002, excluding special items, is EUR 135m.

Commenting on the results,  Jose Antonio Tazon

, President and CEO of Amadeus, said:

“During the third quarter of 2002 Amadeus made further good progress despite the continued slow pace of recovery in the global travel and tourism industry. Total revenue for the period increased by 6.2 per cent, while EBITDA grew by 23.3 per cent compared with the same period in 2001. 

“In travel distribution, we increased our global market share** by 1.3 percentage points - the highest share gain within the industry. In a sector which has suffered an overall decline, Amadeus reports a global growth in reservations of 4.8 per cent, increasing bookings in Asia Pacific by 19.4 per cent, in Eastern Europe by 21.5 per cent and in Western Europe by 6.4 per cent.
“In September, Amadeus acquired its distributor SMART AB, which processes almost 80 per cent of travel agency bookings in Scandinavia, Latvia and Lithuania.

“Our airline IT services group received a further boost when Finnair confirmed its plans to become a customer for our new generation passenger service systems, joining fellow oneworld alliance members British Airways and Qantas as customers.
“Reflecting a quarterly performance ahead of expectations, we are raising our bookings, revenue and earnings targets for the full year.”

Related stories on ITN:

(29/10/2002) Amadeus Doubles Number of E-Ticketing Carriers Available in the UK

(18/10/2002) Amadeus Maintains High Client Retention Rate

(14/10/2002) Amadeus Offers Agents Productivity Savings

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