Travelport announces $128m Q3 loss

Company suffers 10% drop in GDS business 

Travelport reported a $128m loss in the third quarter of 2008.

The company cited a "$138 million non-cash loss" related to its investment in Orbitz Worldwide, an online travel agency.

• It said without this loss, it "would have reported net income of $10m which was a $50m improvement over the same period last year."
• But the company also reported a 10% drop in business by its two major GDSs, Galileo and Worldspan.
• It said adjusted net revenue and pre-tax earning for the GDSs for Q3 were $532m and $156m respectively.
• This was a 4% and 1% drop on the $556m and $167m figures for the same period in 2007.

Travelport added:  "Lower revenue resulted from a (10)% decline in segments, offset by higher yield per segment compared to the third quarter of 2007. Agency inducements were flat compared to the third quarter of 2007."

Overall the company which also owns GTA and has a stake in Orbitz, said it had an adjusted net revenue for the quarter of $635m, a 3% drop on the figure for 2007 and adjusted pre-tax earnings of $191m, a 3% rise on 2007.

During the quarter, Travelport said it has taken steps to achieve about $187m in annual savings.

It said it was also on course to achieve $123m synergy savings on Worldspan, which it bought last year.

Jeff Clarke, Travelport's president and ceo, said: "Travelport's results in the third quarter of 2008 continue to show the resiliency of our business even during the unprecedented economic conditions that we are experiencing.

"The environment for travel continued to weaken into the 3rd quarter as the expected airline capacity reductions materialized.

"GDS segments declined 10% year-over-year during the quarter, and while GTA grew TTV 2% year-over-year, the rate of growth slowed during the quarter, reflecting softer demand and less favourable impact from currency compared to prior quarters."

www.travelport.com