Travelport Worldwide Limited Reports Second Quarter and Half Year 2017 Results

LANGLEY, U.K., Aug. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Travelport Worldwide Limited (NYSE: TVPT) announced today its financial results for the second quarter and half year ended June 30, 2017.

Highlights (for the second quarter unless stated otherwise)

• Net revenue increased 1% to $612 million
• Travel Commerce Platform revenue increased 2% to $584 million
• Beyond Air revenue increased 8% to $160 million, with eNett revenue up 16% to $44 million driven by strong share of business gains from customers in Asia Pacific
• Completed sale in April 2017 of 51% ownership interest in IGT Solutions Private Ltd. (IGTS)
• Net income of $34 million; Adjusted EBITDA increased 6% to $147 million
• Net cash provided by operating activities increased 9% to $84 million; Free Cash Flow increased 11% to $60 million
• Post period-end completed successful repricing of term loans, reducing interest rate by 50 basis points
• Full year 2017 net revenue and earnings guidance unchanged; raising Free Cash Flow guidance

Gordon Wilson, President and CEO of Travelport, commented:

"We delivered a solid quarter, with top line growth reflecting pressure in certain regional travel markets, the sale of IGTS and the impact of the timing of Easter.  Our overall results for the first half of the year were in line with our expectations and our Travel Commerce Platform continues to gain growth momentum, especially in the European and Asian online sectors where we are increasing our share.  I am also delighted to confirm that, post period-end, we concluded the renewal of our full content agreement with Delta Air Lines on a long-term basis. 

"In Beyond Air, we are seeing good progress in hotel and car bookings, and have launched several new digital innovations for our airline and agency partners that bolster our position as the industry leader for mobile travel commerce.  Our commercial payments business, eNett, also continues to make excellent progress with both existing customers and new business development.  The second half has started well across the group, and we remain on track to deliver our growth targets for the year."

Summary

Discussion of Results for the Second Quarter of 2017

Unless otherwise stated, all comparisons are for the second quarter of 2017 compared to the second quarter of 2016.

Net Revenue
Net revenue is comprised of:

Net revenue increased by $6 million, or 1%, to $612 million primarily due to growth in Travel Commerce Platform revenue of $10 million, or 2%.  Within Travel Commerce Platform revenue, Air revenue decreased by $2 million, or 1%.  Beyond Air revenue increased by $12 million, or 8%.  Within Beyond Air, net revenue for eNett increased by 16% to $44 million primarily due to an increase in the volume of payments settled with existing customers and new customer wins.  Technology Services revenue decreased by $4 million, or 11%, primarily due to the sale of IGTS.

The table below sets forth Travel Commerce Platform revenue by region:

The table below sets forth Travel Commerce Platform Reported Segments and global RevPas by region:

Reported Segments remained stable. Travel Commerce Platform RevPas increased 2% to $6.76, driving a $13 million increase in Travel Commerce Platform revenue.  International RevPas increased 3% to $8.30, and United States RevPas remained stable.

International Travel Commerce Platform revenue increased by $9 million, with Asia Pacific contributing primarily to this increase due to a 4% increase in both Reported Segments and RevPas.

Operating Income
Operating income increased by $36 million to $74 million mainly due to the following:

• $6 million growth in net revenue
• $7 million decrease within cost of revenue primarily due to a 3% decline in travel distribution cost per segment, including the positive impact of an $11 million allowance for a prepaid incentive related to a long-term contract recorded in 2016 and a $4 million decrease in technology costs due to the sale of IGTS, offset by incremental commission costs due to mix and pricing and incremental costs from our payment solutions business
• $24 million decrease in selling, general and administrative expenses ("SG&A") primarily due to the favorable impact of foreign currency exchange rate movement

Net Income
Net income increased by $49 million from a net loss of $14 million in 2016 to a net income of $34 million in 2017 mainly due to the following:

• $36 million increase in operating income
• $12 million decrease in interest expense, net, due to lower interest rates, a lower outstanding debt balance and the favorable impact of fair value changes on interest rate swap derivative contracts
• $3 million loss on early extinguishment of debt recognized in 2016 as a result of our debt repricing, offset by:
• $3 million increase in provision for income taxes

Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities
Net cash provided by operating activities increased by $7 million to $84 million, primarily due to an increase in operating income, improved working capital and lower interest payments in 2017.

Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA increased by $8 million, or 6%, to $147 million mainly due to the following:

• $6 million growth in net revenue
• $7 million decrease within cost of revenue; offset by:
• $6 million increase in SG&A (excluding a $30 million net decrease related to non-core corporate costs that are excluded from net income to determine Adjusted EBITDA) primarily due to an increase in workforce expense

Adjusted Net Income
Adjusted Net Income increased by $16 million to $50 million due to the following:

• $49 million increase in net income, offset by:
• $24 million decrease in adjustments, net of tax, for non-core corporate costs within SG&A, as discussed above
• $9 million decrease in amortization of acquired intangible assets, decrease in unrealized loss on interest rate derivative contracts and loss on early extinguishment of debt recognized in 2016 as a result of our debt repricing, which are excluded to determine Adjusted Net Income

Free Cash Flow
Free Cash Flow increased by $6 million to a cash inflow of $60 million, primarily due to an increase in net cash provided by operating activities.

Net Debt 
Net Debt decreased from $2,205 million as of December 31, 2016 to $2,114 million as of June 30, 2017 and is comprised of $2,330 million in total debt less $217 million in cash and cash equivalents.  The decrease in total debt of $14 million and increase of $77 million in the cash and cash equivalents balance as of June 30, 2017 compared to December 31, 2016 resulted in a decrease of $91 million in the Net Debt balance.

Full Year 2017 Financial Guidance

The following forward-looking statements, as well as those made elsewhere within this press release, reflect expectations as of August 3, 2017.  We assume no obligation to update these statements.  Results may be materially different and are affected by many factors detailed in this release and in Travelport's quarterly and annual Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") filings and/or furnishings, which are available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

Our guidance for full year 2017 net revenue is unchanged, as detailed below.  Furthermore, we continue to anticipate that our commercial payments business, eNett, will grow net revenue by at least 20% in 2017.  This is subject to exchange rate movements given that eNett's net revenue is largely denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar.

We continue to anticipate Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Income per Share (diluted) to be towards the higher end of our guidance ranges. 

We now anticipate Free Cash Flow to be higher than the previously guided range, principally due to the phasing of capital and other expenditure.   

This guidance assumes spot foreign exchange rates as of July 27, 2017, together with the impact of foreign exchange rate hedges undertaken during 2016 as part of our rolling hedging program. 

Impact of Foreign Exchange Movements

Our results of operations are reported in U.S. dollars.  With approximately 91% of our net revenue denominated in U.S. dollars in the second quarter of 2017, exchange rate movements in this currency have a low impact on our net revenue.  Of our costs and expenses in the second quarter of 2017, excluding depreciation on property and equipment, amortization of customer loyalty payments, amortization of acquired intangible assets and non-core corporate costs, approximately 65% were denominated in U.S. dollars. 

We employ foreign exchange forward contracts to hedge our exposure to changes in foreign exchange rates, particularly against the British pound, the Euro and the Australian dollar, which are the main non-U.S. dollar components of our costs and expenses.  The year over year impact of foreign exchange movements had a positive impact to Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter of 2017.

Dividend

On August 2, 2017, Travelport's Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $0.075 per common share for the second quarter of 2017.  The dividend will be payable on September 21, 2017 to shareholders on record as at market close on September 7, 2017.

Conference Call

The Company's second quarter 2017 earnings conference call will be held later today (on August 3, 2017) beginning at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern Time). 

A live audiocast of the presentation and accompanying slides will be available via the Investor Center section of Travelport's website at ir.travelport.com.  Please visit the site or click the following link to pre-register: https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/1138/21669.

A replay of the audiocast will be available on the Investor Center section of Travelport's website shortly after the end of the earnings call, where it will remain for one year thereafter.

Contacts

For further information, please contact:

Investors:
Majid Nazir
Vice President, Investor Relations 
Tel: +44 (0)1753 288 857
majid.nazir@travelport.com

Media:
Julian Eccles
Vice President, PR and Corporate Communications
Tel: +44 (0)7720 409 374
julian.eccles@travelport.com

About Travelport (www.travelport.com)

Travelport is a Travel Commerce Platform providing distribution, technology, payment, mobile and other solutions for the global travel and tourism industry.  With a presence in approximately 180 countries, approximately 4,000 employees, our 2016 net revenue was over $2.3 billion.

Travelport is comprised of:

• A Travel Commerce Platform through which it facilitates travel commerce by connecting the world's leading travel providers with online and offline travel buyers in a proprietary business-to-business (B2B) travel marketplace. Travelport has a leadership position in airline merchandising, hotel content and rate distribution, mobile travel commerce and a pioneering B2B payment solution that addresses the needs of travel intermediaries to efficiently and securely settle travel transactions.

• Technology Services through which it provides critical IT services to airlines, such as shopping, ticketing, departure control and other solutions, enabling them to focus on their core business competencies and reduce costs.

Travelport is headquartered in Langley, U.K.  The Company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and trades under the symbol "TVPT".

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release, including outlook and financial guidance, constitute "forward-looking statements" that involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.  Statements preceded by, followed by or that otherwise include the words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "projects", "estimates", "plans", "may increase", "may fluctuate" and similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as "will", "should", "would", "may" and "could" are generally forward-looking in nature and not historical facts.  Any statements that refer to expectations or other characterizations of future events, circumstances or results are forward-looking statements.

Various risks that could cause future results to differ from those expressed by the forward-looking statements included in this press release include, but are not limited to: factors affecting the level of travel activity, particularly air travel volume, including security concerns, pandemics, general economic conditions, natural disasters and other disruptions; general economic and business conditions in the markets in which we operate, including fluctuations in currencies, particularly in the U.S. dollar, and the economic conditions in the Eurozone; pricing, regulatory and other trends in the travel industry; our ability to obtain travel provider inventory from travel providers, such as airlines, hotels, car rental companies, cruise lines and other travel providers; our ability to develop and deliver products and services that are valuable to travel agencies and travel providers and generate new revenue streams; maintenance and protection of our information technology and intellectual property; the impact on travel provider capacity and inventory resulting from consolidation of the airline industry; the impact our outstanding indebtedness may have on the way we operate our business; our ability to achieve expected cost savings from our efforts to improve operational and technology efficiency, including through our consolidation of multiple technology vendors and locations and the centralization of activities; our ability to maintain existing relationships with travel agencies and to enter into new relationships on acceptable financial and other terms; and our ability to grow adjacencies, such as payment solutions and mobile commerce; and the impact on business conditions worldwide as a result of political decisions, including the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union.  These and other potential risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ are more fully detailed under the caption "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on February 21, 2017, and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on May 9, 2017, and available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. 

Other unknown or unpredictable factors could also have material adverse effects on our performance or achievements.  In light of these risks, uncertainties, assumptions and factors, the forward-looking events discussed in this press release may not occur.  You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date stated, or if no date is stated, as of the date of this press release.  Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to release any revisions to any forward-looking statements, to report events or to report the occurrence of unanticipated events.

This press release includes certain non-GAAP financial measures as defined under SEC rules.  As required by SEC rules, important information regarding such measures is contained below.