Strong H1 2012 Numbers for Amadeus

Amadeus IT Holding has reported its year-on-year financial and operating results for the first half of 2012 (six months ended 30 June 2012).

Adjusted profit for the first half increased 26.1% to reach €332.5 million, due principally to the substantial reduction in interest expense. This was backed by growth in revenue of 8.6% to €1,508.9 million and a 6.1% rise in EBITDA to €606.9 million.

This growth record is supported by significant year-on-year growth from both the distribution and IT solutions businesses.

Revenue in the distribution business increased by 7.2%, rising to €1,157.4 million whilst the number of total bookings, including both air travel agency and non air bookings, improved by 4.2%, to 252.2 million. Amadeus also expanded its global market share of travel agency air bookings by 1.0 percentage point to reach 38.3%.

In the IT solutions business revenue increased by 13.6%, rising to €351.4 million, and the Passengers Boarded (PB) figure was lifted by 27.0%, rising to 259.0 million. Currently Amadeus projects over 750 million PB for 2014, based upon existing contracts.

The financial performance for the first half of the year was backed by strong year-on-year results from both quarters. During the second quarter, Amadeus’ adjusted profit increased by 30.3%, to €164.6 million, total revenues were up by 8.8% to €744.7 million, and EBITDA rose by 6.8% to €299.7 million.

The strong cash flow generation in the period drove consolidated net financial debt down to €1,654.7 million as of 30 June 2012 (based on covenants’ definition). This represented 1.53x the last twelve months’ EBITDA and was down by €197.1 million vs. 31 December 2011. In May the European Investment Bank (EIB) granted Amadeus a €200 million senior unsecured loan with a nine year maturity for investment in R&D. Separately Amadeus also later announced the signature of a club deal with eleven banks for a €200 million revolving credit facility, with a two-and-a-half year maturity from completion date.

Luis Maroto, President & CEO of Amadeus, said, “Despite the ongoing challenges of the global economic environment, this has been a successful first half of the year and we have continued our growth record. At the financial level, year-on-year during the first half we have grown revenues by 8.6% and adjusted profit by 26.1% to €332.5 million. Once again this sustained improved performance was underpinned by growth across both our businesses: distribution’s revenue increased 7.2%, backed by a 1.0 p.p. expansion of global market share; whilst IT solutions’ revenue rose 13.6%, supported by a 27.0% growth in Passengers Boarded.

“We also continued our long-term corporate financing strategy of maintaining flexibility and adequate maturities, along with cost efficiencies from diverse funding sources. In May we were granted a €200 million R&D loan from the European Investment Bank, and we also announced the signature of a €200 million revolving credit facility. We continued deleveraging to reach a net debt of 1.53x last twelve month’s EBITDA and recently Standard & Poor’s raised its outlook on Amadeus to ‘positive’.

“At an operational level, our long-term commitment to developing innovative customer-focused solutions and consolidating our global presence, has again proven successful with two landmark contracts in North America: the Altéa contract with Southwest Airlines and the Expedia contract for content and technology in North America. These were followed by further noteworthy agreements such as those with KAYAK and Hipmunk, also in North America, plus significant agreements with both SNCF and Trenitalia.

“The global economic outlook remains uncertain, and air traffic and GDS volumes have shown weakness in recent months, driven by the economic environment. Nonetheless, we believe that our business model will continue to prove resilient and support good results for the second half of this year.”

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