Sabre Holdings’ airline and hospitality solutions pushed up 2014 earnings, against a modest decline in its travel network.
The firm reported full year results of US$2.631 billion, up 4.3% from 2013 results of US$2.524 billion.
The company said airline and hospitality solutions had record years in terms of sales, up 10.5% to US$786 million from $712 million in 2013, reflecting full year passenger boarded growth of 6.8%.
“2014 revenue was also fuelled by continued strong growth in the AirCentre and AirVision suites and by Sabre Hospitality Solutions,” Sabre stated.
“2014 was a year of significant strategic progress,” Sabre ceo Tom Klein said.
“We have also made significant progress toward divesting non-core online travel agency assets, which will generate significant value that we will reinvest to further strengthen our core businesses.”
Consistent with its strategy, Sabre said it made “significant progress” toward exiting the online travel agency business after selling Travelocity.com to Expedia, Inc. for US$280 million in January.
Meanwhile its Travel Network business revenue was up 1.8% to US$1.855 in 2014, but full year growth was “muted” by pricing impacts of the American Airlines and US Airways merger and a decline in travel markets such as Venezuela, the company said.
“In Travel Network, we continued to build our share in EMEA, while navigating headwinds and positioning the global business for stronger growth going forward,” Klein said.
Looking ahead as per a report on Tnooz, Klein said Sabre Holdings expects 12% to 14% growth in its hospitality and airline solutions business over the next three years, but only 4% to 6% growth in its GDS travel network arm during the same period.
