Travelport Worldwide Limited Reports Third Quarter 2017 Results

LANGLEY, U.K., Nov. 2, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Travelport Worldwide Limited (NYSE: TVPT) announced today its financial results for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2017.

Highlights (for the third quarter unless stated otherwise)

• Net revenue increased 3% to $611 million
• Net income decreased 78% to $5 million, primarily driven by an increase in the provision for income taxes; Adjusted EBITDA decreased 9% to $136 million
• Travel Commerce Platform revenue increased 5% to $586 million, offset, as expected, by a decrease in Technology Services revenue of 20% to $25 million largely due to the sale of IGT Solutions Private Ltd. (IGTS) in April 2017
• Beyond Air revenue increased 11% to $169 million, contributing 29% of Travel Commerce Platform revenue (Q3 2016: 27%). eNett revenue increased 30% to $54 million
• International revenue increased 7% driven by growth in both Reported Segments and RevPas, with 12% revenue growth in Asia Pacific and segment growth in all regions
• Net cash provided by operating activities decreased 14% to $96 million; Free Cash Flow decreased 26% to $63 million
• Completed successful repricing of term loans, reducing interest rate by 50 basis points, and made an additional $50 million voluntary prepayment of term loans

Gordon Wilson, President and CEO of Travelport, commented:

"Our Travel Commerce Platform delivered revenue growth of 5% for the quarter, which included revenue growth across all International regions and a particularly strong performance in Asia where we continue to gain air market share.  Our leadership there has been further strengthened by our partnership with India's largest OTA, MakeMyTrip, together with the signing of Traveloka, which is the leading OTA in Indonesia and will now leverage our technologies to expand across Asia.  In Beyond Air, we continue to see good momentum in hotel and car bookings, while our commercial payments business eNett accelerated to 30% revenue growth for the quarter, driven by transaction growth with several major European and Asian OTAs.

Our Adjusted EBITDA decreased in the quarter, with several of our planned technology investments moving from design to implementation phase, as we further expand our products and capabilities.  We also incurred higher commercial expenditure relating to the growth and ongoing implementation of our signed new business.  As our mix of business continues to pivot towards the fast-growing online channel, I am confident that these investments will drive sustainable longer-term growth.  For the full year 2017, we anticipate Adjusted EBITDA growth to be within the 2 to 4% range as guided."

Summary

Discussion of Results for the Third Quarter of 2017

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

Net Revenue
Net revenue is comprised of:

Net revenue increased by $20 million, or 3%, to $611 million primarily due to growth in Travel Commerce Platform revenue of $26 million, or 5%.  Within Travel Commerce Platform revenue, Air revenue increased by $9 million, or 2%.  Beyond Air revenue increased by $17 million, or 11%, driven by a 30% increase in eNett net revenue, to $54 million, primarily due to an increase in the volume of payments settled with existing customers and new customer wins.  Technology Services revenue decreased by $6 million, or 20%, primarily due to the sale of IGTS in April 2017.

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 increased marginally by 1 million, or 2%. International Reported Segments increased 4% with increases in both Air and Beyond Air segments. United States Reported Segments decreased 2%. Travel Commerce Platform RevPas increased 3% to $6.86, driving a $17 million increase in Travel Commerce Platform revenue.  Both International RevPas and United States RevPas increased 2% to $8.38 and $4.50, respectively.

International Travel Commerce Platform revenue increased by $27 million, or 7%, with growth across all regions. Asia Pacific contributed $16 million of the growth primarily due to a 6% increase in Reported Segments and a 5% increase in RevPas.

Operating Income
Operating income decreased marginally by $1 million to $61 million mainly due to the following:

• $36 million increase within cost of revenue primarily due to increase in Reported Segments, increase in travel distribution cost per segment driven by mix, pricing and higher volume related incentives along with incremental costs from our payment solutions business, offset by:
• $20 million increase in net revenue
• $12 million decrease in selling, general and administrative expenses ("SG&A") primarily due to the favorable impact of foreign currency exchange rate movement
• $3 million decrease in depreciation and amortization primarily due to useful lives expiring on a portion of assets acquired on the sale of Travelport to Blackstone in 2006 and the acquisition of Worldspan in 2007

Net Income
Net income decreased by $17 million to $5 million mainly due to the following:

• $1 million decrease in operating income
• $13 million increase in the provision for income taxes due to the adverse impact of a reassessment of geographical profit mix and international tax phasing benefits realized in 2016
• $4 million increase in loss on early extinguishment of debt due to amendments made to our senior secured credit agreement

Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities
Net cash provided by operating activities decreased by $15 million to $96 million, primarily due to higher interest, tax and customer loyalty payments.

Adjusted EBITDA
Adjusted EBITDA decreased by $14 million to $136 million due to the following:

• $39 million increase within cost of revenue (excluding a $3 million decrease related to the amortization of customer loyalty payments which is excluded from Adjusted EBITDA); offset by:
• $20 million growth in net revenue
• $3 million decrease in SG&A (excluding an $8 million net decrease related to non-core corporate costs that are excluded from net income to determine Adjusted EBITDA) primarily due to the favorable impact of foreign currency exchange rate movement

Adjusted Net Income
Adjusted Net Income decreased by $18 million to $23 million mainly due to the following:

• $17 million decrease in net income
• $6 million decrease in adjustments, net of tax, for non-core corporate costs within SG&A, as discussed above, offset by:
• $4 million increase due to loss on early extinguishment of debt as a result of amendments to our senior secured credit agreement, which is excluded to determine Adjusted Net Income

Free Cash Flow
Free Cash Flow decreased by $22 million to a cash inflow of $63 million, primarily due to a $15 million decrease in net cash provided by operating activities and a $7 million increase in cash additions to property and equipment.

Net Debt
Net Debt decreased from $2,205 million as of December 31, 2016 to $2,070 million as of September 30, 2017 and is comprised of $2,275 million in total debt less $205 million in cash and cash equivalents.  The decrease in total debt of $70 million (which includes an additional $50 million voluntary prepayment of principal amount of term loans) and increase of $65 million in the cash and cash equivalents balance as of September 30, 2017 compared to December 31, 2016 resulted in a decrease of $135 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 November 2, 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 anticipate Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Income per Share (diluted) to be at the mid-to-lower-end of their respective guidance ranges. 

Our guidance for Free Cash Flow is unchanged.  

This guidance assumes spot foreign exchange rates as of October 26, 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 third quarter of 2017, exchange rate movements in this currency have a low impact on our net revenue.  Of our costs and expenses in the third 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 59% 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 an immaterial impact to Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of 2017.

Dividend

On October 31, 2017, Travelport's Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $0.075 per common share for the third quarter of 2017.  The dividend will be payable on December 21, 2017 to shareholders on record as at market close on December 7, 2017.

Conference Call

The Company's third quarter 2017 earnings conference call will be held later today (on November 2, 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/1138/23004.

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 (NYSE: TVPT) is the technology company which makes the experience of selling, buying and managing travel continually better.  It operates a travel commerce platform providing distribution, technology, payment and other solutions for the global travel and tourism industry.  The Company 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 distribution, car rental, mobile commerce and B2B payment solutions.  The Company also provides critical IT services to airlines, such as shopping, ticketing, departure control and other solutions.  With net revenue of over $2.3 billion in 2016, Travelport is headquartered in Langley, U.K., has approximately 4,000 staff and is represented in 180 countries and territories.

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 Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on May 9, 2017 and August 3, 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.