Sabre has reported fourth quarter revenue of $687 million, up 9% year over year.
For the full year, revenue came it a $2.9 billion, up 15% on 2022’s figure.
Adjusted EBITDA for the technology and distribution company was $96 million for the quarter and $337 million for the full year, up from $65 million in 2022. The gains were attributed to increases in travel bookings across air and hotels.
Operating income of $47 million in 2023 was an improvement from 2022's operating loss of $261 million, also attributed to the travel booking environment as well as factors including lower labor costs. In the first quarter of 2023 Sabre announced a repositioning, including a head count reduction of about 15%.
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Hospitality solutions revenue increased 16% to $75 million in Q4, driven by an increase in central reservation system transactions, new customer deployments and higher ancillary products sales. Full year 2023 hospitality solutions revenue increased 19% to $304 million.
Distribution revenue increased 14% to $476 million in the quarter and by 27% to $2.1 billion for the full year. Meanwhile, IT Solutions revenue was down 7% to $146 million in Q4 and declined 15% to $585 million for the full year.
Speaking to analysts, Sabre president and CEO Kurt Ekert shared an update on company’s partnership with Google saying it had "reached an important next step." He added that Sabre's engineering teams were developing products and services that harness Google’s artificial intelligence capabilities.
He also said the company's migration to cloud is on schedule while it will also achieve its $150 million technology cost reduction plan versus 2019 and 2023 levels.
Commenting on overall GDS industry growth, Ekert said that the industry was back to about 70% of pre-COVID levels and had been hampered by the slower recovery in corporate travel.
Overall Ekert described 2023 as an important year for Sabre.
"Our team members around the world delivered significant commercial successes, efficiency gains, and product innovation achievements that drove strong financial results, including compelling growth in revenue and adjusted EBITDA, and achievement of our free cash flow objective," he said. "At Sabre, we are delivering modern retailing and distribution technology that meets the needs of an evolving travel marketplace, and we remain on course to realizing our strategic and financial priorities."
See below for a discussion in the PhocusWire studio at the Phocuswright Conference 2023 with Chinmai Sharma, Sabre Travel Solutions' global head of lodging, land and sea. Sharma, whose appointment was announced in November last year, touches on hotel technology developments, the experience he brings from previous roles and what's on the 'to do' list for 2024.
The Phocuswright Conference 2023 Executive Interview: Chinmai Sharma