Amadeus set to soar on airline data sales

Amadeus, the Spanish company that provides the technology behind airline flight bookings, is set to report results in stark contrast to the airlines it serves, as it benefits from a 40 per cent share of a growing air travel market.

On Friday, the group's full-year results are expected to show the effect of its expansion from flights into hotel reservations and the growth of its IT solutions business. Its share price has been charting a sustained upward trajectory for much of the last five years, hitting an all-time high on Monday this week, for a market capitalisation of more €16bn.

Amadeus makes most of its money through its global flight distribution system, which manages transactions between customers and about 120 of the world's airlines, many of which take place on online price comparison websites. Its growth is therefore linked directly to an increase in global air traffic.

But despite Amadeus being recognised by Bloomberg as the 11th largest software company in the world, and second in Europe, Luis Maroto, group chief executive, struck a cautious tone when asked about his company's future prospects.

"It's nothing new," he said. "Travel is very much linked to economy . . . This is coming more from Asia due to the size of the populations there," he adds.

However, analysts suggest that much of Amadeus' value lies in what it can glean from the billions of transactions it processes: a perspective on the purchasing habits of consumers.

Improved personalisation - from the interrogation of "big data" - enables airlines to tailor their products and services to the personal whims of individual consumers.

Amadeus has already begun to sell aggregated user information to airlines, revealing customers' search habits. It provides a growing revenue stream for the company. Mr Maroto has said this will form part of the business model in future.

The company, however, faces certain challenges. It competes mainly with other global distribution services, including US group Sabre and UK-based Travelport, both of which listed last year. "Sabre and Travelport are trying to gain market share," noted Gonzalo Sanz, an analyst at Mirabaud Securities.

Airline companies have also attempted to provide their own IT infrastructure, which threatens to cut Amadeus out of the loop and reduce the number of transactions flowing through its system.

On this front, though, analysts have suggested the tide may be turning in Amadeus' favour. Last summer, Ryanair, which had previously refused to place itself on global distribution platforms, relented and announced a partnership with the company.

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