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Amadeus continued to see a steady evolution through the fourth quarter, resulting in strong financial performance for 2023. Across the full year, Revenue, EBITDA and Adjusted Profit grew by 21.3%, 29.8%1 and 59.8%1, respectively. Free Cash Flow amounted to €1,148.6 million, supporting Net Financial Debt of €2,140.6 million at December 31, 2023, representing 1.0 times last-twelve-month EBITDA.
Excluding non-recurring effects: (i) in 2023, impacts from updates in tax risk assessments, fundamentally due to the positive resolution of proceedings, which resulted in an increase in EBITDA of €42.0 million and in Adjusted profit of €73.6 million, (ii) in Q4 2023, a payment to a third partydistributor due to a change in our distribution strategy, which resulted in a reduction in EBITDA and Adjusted profit of €10.9 million and €8.2 million, respectively, and (iii) in 2022, a non-refundable government grant, which resulted in an increase in EBITDA and Adjusted profit of €51.2 million and €38.9 million, respectively.
Excluding after-tax impact of the following items: (i) accounting effects derived from PPA exercises and impairment losses, (ii) non- operating exchange gains (losses), and (iii) other non-operating income (expense).
Defined as EBITDA, minus capital expenditure, plus changes in our operating working capital, minus taxes paid, minus interests and financial fees paid.
Free Cash Flow grew by 42.6%, to €1,116.7 million, in 2023, vs. 2022, if we exclude the following non-recurring effects: (i) a collection of
€42.8 million from the Indian tax authorities, in Q2’23, (ii) a payment of €10.9 million to a third party distributor, in Q4’23, (iii) a non- refundable government grant of €51.2 million received in Q2’22, and (iv) €29.1 million cost saving program implementation costs paid in 2022.
Based on our credit facility agreements’ definition.
Luis Maroto, President & CEO of Amadeus, commented: “In 2023, Amadeus experienced strong growth, expanding profitability and high cash flow generation. This has allowed us not only to resume a dividend payment, but also to announce share repurchase programs in aggregate amounting to over €1 billion in 2023.
Amadeus has long been a story of expansion and diversification, and over the year we’ve continued to invest. We believe we can make a positive impact through technology at more touchpoints along the traveler journey, which means expanding our addressable markets and customer base. This is evidenced in our recent announcement that we are acquiring a leading provider of biometric solutions for airports, airlines, and border control customers, in addition to the upcoming implementation of a new mid-sized ACRS customer. As we advance with our strategy, we are optimistic about our growth in 2024 and beyond.”
Business evolution in the year
In 2023, Air Distribution revenue increased by 23.6% relative to the previous year. Our Air Distribution bookings increased by 13.6%, with average revenue per booking growing by 8.8%. During 2023, our best performing region was Asia-Pacific, where bookings expanded by 63.7%, followed by Western Europe, which grew by 13.3%. Over the year, Western Europe and North America were our largest regions in terms of bookings, each representing 28.2% and 27.0% of Amadeus’ bookings, respectively.
Priceline, part of Booking Holdings, a major online travel agency in the U.S., will be able to access NDC-sourced content from some of the world’s leading airlines via the Amadeus Travel Platform.
In Air IT Solutions, revenue grew by 21.6%, supported by our passengers boarded evolution, which increased by 26.8%, driven by global air traffic growth and Amadeus’ new customer implementations, mainly Etihad Airways, ITA Airways, Hawaiian Airlines, Bamboo Airways and Allegiant Air in 2023, as well as Air India in 2022. Asia-Pacific was our best performing region, delivering 55.4% growth, and Western Europe and Asia- Pacific were our largest regions, representing 32.7% and 29.4% of Amadeus’ passengers boarded, respectively.
Israir, the integrated tour operator and airline, is deploying Amadeus Altéa PSS as well as other solutions, such as Amadeus Disruption Management and Revenue Integrity solutions.
Our Hospitality & Other Solutions revenue grew by 14.2% in 2023. Both Hospitality, which generates the majority of the revenues in this segment, and Payments, delivered strong growth, supported by new customer implementations and volume expansion.
In Hospitality, we are advancing on our Amadeus Central Reservation System (ACRS) strategy. We will soon start implementing a new undisclosed ACRS mid-sized customer and its implementation is expected to start in the first half of 2024.
In Payments, Amadeus’ wholly-owned payments subsidiary, Outpayce, expects that the e-money license it applied for in 2022 will be granted in the first half of 2024. Outpayce intends to offer pre-paid virtual card issuing within its B2B Wallet solution, which travel agencies use to pay travel providers such as airlines and hotels.
Corporate news in the year
On December 15, 2023, Amadeus announced that its Board of Directors proposed a 50% pay-out ratio of the 2023 profit, for the 2023 dividend. Also, the Board of Directors approved the distribution of an interim gross dividend from the 2023 profit of €0.44 per share, which was paid on January 18, 2024, for a total amount of €193.4 million.
Additionally, in June 2024, the Board of Directors will submit to the General Shareholders Meeting for approval a final gross dividend of €1.24 per share, representing 50% of the reported profit. Based on this, the proposed appropriation of the 2023 results included in our 2023 audited consolidated financial statements includes a total amount of €558.6 million corresponding to dividends pertaining to the financial year 2023.
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