Boosting Overall Forecasts, Amadeus Still Challenged In U.S.

Amadeus Global Travel Distribution today raised its forecast for bookings, revenues and earnings growth, reporting year-over-year increases of 4.8 percent in global bookings, 6.2 percent in revenues and 43 percent in net income in the quarter ending Sept. 30.

Amadeus expects to earn about $133 million for the full-year 2002, which includes the latest quarterly result of $24.3 million including special items. Claiming it increased global marketshare of agency air bookings by 1.3 percentage points, "the highest share gain within the industry," Amadeus said bookings in Asia/Pacific rose 19.4 percent, ahead of 6.4 percent growth in Western Europe but below 21.5 percent growth in Eastern Europe. However, Amadeus' geographical Achilles' heel, North America, suffered 15.7 percent lower bookings.

"North America is pretty bad," said Leonor Sebastian, analyst with Madrid-based BSCH Investment. "Amadeus is not present in the online channel in the United States, which is the only place showing growth there. Also, Amadeus in the U.S. has a lot of small travel agency users, many of which are undergoing financial problems."