Amadeus saw profits for the first nine months of the year jump by 19.5% to €400.6 million as booking levels rose.
This came on the back of 3.7% revenue growth to €2,059.8 million and an improvement in EBITDA (earnings before tax and other costs) of 6% to €835.6 million.
Excluding the impact of the sales of equity stakes in Vacation.com and Hospitality Group last year, and the impact of a change in treatment of certain bookings within IT Solutions, revenue grew by 5.4%, the company said.
Total bookings increased by 4.6%, up from 338.6 million to 354.1 million in the nine months to September.
Amadeus said it increased its global market share of travel agency air bookings by 0.9 percentage points, maintaining a leadership position with 37.2% of the global market share of travel agency air bookings during the period.
Low-cost carrier bookings by travel agencies using Amadeus in the third quarter increased by 18% year-on-year with the year-to-date figure to September increasing by 20%. Seventy low cost carriers are now bookable on the system.
Amadeus’ net financial debt on September 30 was €1,850.8 million, down by €720.5 million or 28% against December 2010.
President and chief executive Luis Maroto said: “Both the first nine months of this year and the third quarter have delivered an increase in total billable travel transactions – demonstrating the strength and flexibility of our transaction-based model.
”Once again both the Distribution and IT Solutions businesses have contributed significantly to our performance, with each producing a combination of increased transactions from existing customers along with both new customers and improved market share.
“We look forward to the full year results with confidence.”