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Sabre to acquire Abacus International
SOUTHLAKE, Texas, and SINGAPORE, May 14, 2015 – Sabre Corporation (NASDAQ: SABR) announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Abacus International, the leading global distribution system (GDS) in the Asia-Pacific region. Abacus is currently owned by a consortium of 11 Asian airlines along with Sabre, which has a 35% stake in the company. Sabre will purchase the remaining portion of Abacus for net cash consideration of $411 million. “The Asia-Pacific travel market is the largest and fastest growing in the world,” said Tom Klein, Sabre President and CEO. “Acquiring Abacus immediately combines the global capabilities of Sabre with the deep local market expertise of the leading Asia-Pacific GDS. This powerful combination will give customers even more innovation and service options, while allowing Sabre to accelerate growth globally in a very capital efficient way – and to gain regional synergies in all three of our businesses serving travel agents, airlines and hospitality companies.” Abacus International President and CEO, Robert Bailey added, “With our extended network in Asia-Pacific, Abacus has built a trusted brand of unique significance and scale. We now have the opportunity to take the business forward even faster, broadening the scope within the Sabre family and with the support of our shareholder carriers. This is great news for the industry in Asia-Pacific, and we look forward to passing the benefits of integration to all sectors of this region’s diverse travel community.” Abacus serves more than 100,000 travel agents across the Asia-Pacific region’s 59 markets and has both global and uniquely local relationships with airlines and hotels, including the leading portfolio of low-cost content and Chinese airline content. Separately, the acquisition includes new long-term distribution agreements between Sabre and the 11 airline owners of Abacus. “We look forward to continuing our long-term business relationships with our former partners in Abacus, and our new agreements will provide benefits and confidence to travel agents throughout the Asia-Pacific region for many years to come,” said Greg Webb, President of Sabre Travel Network. “Abacus currently provides a broad set of services to its customers using a base of Sabre technology for the large majority of core functions to market, distribute, sell and service travel in the Asia-Pacific region,” Webb added. “That, along with deep local market capabilities, will result in a smooth transition for Asia-Pacific customers, who should see the benefits of global capabilities while continuing to use our familiar, leading technology.” Abacus will operate as a region of Sabre Travel Network, and Sabre expects its expanded Asia-Pacific direct presence will benefit Sabre Airline Solutions and Sabre Hospitality Solutions, which already provide mission-critical support to 78 airlines and thousands of hotels throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Sabre also will continue its partnership to provide technology services to INFINI, a local Japanese GDS. “Sabre and Abacus have established the gold standard for service and content in the Asia-Pacific region, and that only gets better,” Klein said. “Together with Abacus, Sabre will provide customers and suppliers with improved and faster access to Sabre’s industry-leading innovations, including low-cost carrier content, ancillary capabilities, data analytics, and the latest in mobile solutions and personalization services. Additionally, airlines and travel agencies will have more options for new and differentiated products and services created specifically for customers in the Asia-Pacific market.” Subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions, the transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2015. The acquisition, including associated working capital adjustments and cash acquired, is expected to be financed through approximately $250 million in cash on hand, augmented by incremental net debt of approximately $160 million. Pro forma for the transaction, Sabre estimates its March 31, 2015 net debt to trailing twelve months Adjusted EBITDA ratio would be 3.3x, compared to 3.0x as reported. Assuming a third quarter closing date, Sabre expects the transaction will increase 2015 revenue by approximately $120 million, be approximately neutral to 2015 Adjusted EPS and modestly accretive to current-year Adjusted EBITDA. In 2016, Sabre expects the transaction to increase revenue by more than $300 million, to increase Adjusted EBITDA by approximately $50 million and to be accretive to Adjusted EPS by approximately $0.05. Conference Call Sabre will conduct an investor conference call on Thursday, May 14 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The live webcast, including accompanying slide presentation, can be accessed via the Sabre Investor Relations website at investors.sabre.com. A recording of the call will be archived for replay following the conference call. About the Company Sabre Corporation is a leading technology provider to the global travel and tourism industry. Sabre’s software, data, mobile and distribution solutions are used by hundreds of airlines and thousands of hotels to manage vital operations, such as passenger and guest reservations, revenue management, and flight, network and crew management. Sabre also operates the world’s leading travel marketplace, processing more than $110 billion of annual travel spend. Headquartered in Southlake, Texas, USA, Sabre operates in approximately 60 countries around the world. Website Information We routinely post important information for investors on our website, www.sabre.com, in the Investor Relations section. We intend to use this website as a means of disclosing material, non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Accordingly, investors should monitor the Investor Relations section of our website, in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings, public conference calls, presentations and webcasts. The information contained on, or that may be accessed through, our website is not incorporated by reference into, and is not a part of, this document. Forward-looking statements Certain statements in this release are forward-looking statements about trends, future events, uncertainties and our plans and expectations of what may happen in the future. Any statements that are not historical or current facts are forward-looking statements. In many cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “will,” “expect,” “would,” “estimates,” “may,” “potential” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Sabre’s actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the closing and effects of the acquisition described in this release, dependency on transaction volumes in the global travel industry, particularly air travel transaction volumes, adverse global and regional economic and political conditions, including, but not limited to, conditions in Venezuela and Russia, dependence on maintaining and renewing contracts with customers and other counterparties, exposure to pricing pressure in the Travel Network business, dependence on relationships with travel buyers, changes affecting travel supplier customers, travel suppliers’ usage of alternative distribution models, and competition in the travel distribution market and solutions markets. More information about potential risks and uncertainties that could affect our business and results of operations is included in Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors” in Sabre’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future events, results, actions, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Unless required by law, Sabre undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect circumstances or events after the date they are made. Note on Non-GAAP Financial Measures This release refers to unaudited non-GAAP financial measures, including Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted EPS, and the ratios based on these financial measures. We define Adjusted EBITDA as Adjusted Net Income adjusted for depreciation and amortization of property and equipment, amortization of capitalized implementation costs, amortization of upfront incentive consideration, interest expense, net, and remaining provision (benefit) for income taxes. We define Adjusted Net Income as income (loss) from continuing operations adjusted for impairment, acquisition related amortization, loss on extinguishment of debt, other, net, restructuring and other costs, litigation and taxes, including penalties, stock-based compensation, management fees, and tax impact of net income adjustments. We define Adjusted EPS as Adjusted Net Income divided by the applicable share count. We present non-GAAP measures when our management believes that the additional information provides useful information about our operating performance. Non-GAAP financial measures do not have any standardized meaning and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. The presentation of non-GAAP financial measures is not intended to be a substitute for, and should not be considered in isolation from, the financial measures reported in accordance with … READ MORE
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Abacus Poll Measures the Gap between Supply and Demand for Low Cost Carrier Content on Online Travel Agent Sites
[ezcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””] Providing a snapshot of the key issues for online travel agencies in the Asia Pacific region, Abacus is today sharing the findings of an ‘Online Travel Poll.’ This August the region’s leading travel technology provider questioned 62 travel agents invested in the online space on various aspects of their digital businesses and the revenues achieved. Comprising a mix of agency types, some regional, some traditional or niche, one in five were dedicated almost entirely to online business. Those more offline tended to fulfil that way, even if the query originated on the net, while those focused on online revenues tended to process the entire transaction digitally. Flight search served as the primary function of their sites with 82 per cent confirming that they sell air tickets online. Almost three-quarters offer accommodation and cross-sell other products. The ability to present competitive fares, including those of low cost carriers (LCCs), was seen as vital to the offering for most. But, while 42 per cent of participants acknowledged LCCs as having a ‘major presence’ in their markets, 60 per cent were unable to display and sell their inventory. Only 29 per cent of the agents have any agreements with budget carriers, the rest either excluded them from their search results or, as one in seven admitted, ‘screen-scrape’ the LCCs’ sites for the sake of content comprehensiveness. As further evidence of the disparity between supply and demand, almost a third stated ‘we ignore LCCs and focus on airlines that can be booked through our online booking engine.’ “We cannot assume users of these travel agents’ sites are familiar with all the airlines operating on their chosen routes, or to know where else to look to compare the available fares,” explained Martin Symes, VP Product & Marketing at Abacus International. “An LCC’s absence places the carrier, the intermediary and the consumer at a disadvantage.” Having bridged the content divide, though it seems other gaps appear. Where online travel agents are able to book LCCs, the low cost model, with fares often lacking flexibility and the emphasis on ancillary revenue generation, selling and servicing is made more challenging. One third of the agents cited a problem with ancillaries in quoting the total price. “It’s a snapshot of where we are on this important debate,” cautioned Symes. “In other parts of the world including the US, Europe and Australia, we have witnessed major LCCs work to gain share of the higher yielding corporate market, by evolving their products and GDS participation levels. It will be interesting to see if this is replicated here in Asia.” “LCCs in this region now have the ability to engage the trade in many different ways, given innovation in the distribution technology. They can readily scale a B2B model to complement their direct focus,” he added. Confirming the growing and largely untapped corporate opportunity, almost three-quarters of the corporate agents responding to the recent Abacus Corporate Travel Practices Survey noted greater demand for LCC seats from their clients. The LCCs distributing through the GDS appear to be reaping rewards too. The budget carriers integrated with Abacus have seen business from the channel grow by an average of 86 per cent over this last year. Commissioned from Travel Tech Consulting, the Abacus Online Travel Poll findings are available on request from: marketing@abacus.com.sg. [/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end id=”” class=”” … READ MORE
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THE LAUNCHING OF MALINDO AIR IN SABRE INDONESIA
Malindo Air can now be booked through the Sabre Red WorkSpace. Monday, 2 November 2015, located in Sabre Indonesia office, Malindo Air working together with Sabre Indonesia was held socialization and launching event to introduce Malindo Air in Sabre Red WorkSpace. The activity was separated into two sessions attended by more than 30 representatives of Malindo Air’s travel agents in Jakarta. The event was opened with an enthusiastic welcome from Managing Director Sabre Indonesia Iswandi Said, followed by Malindo Air General Manager of Commercial Support Ms. Karen Low and Malindo Air Head of Global Sales Yogananthan Muniandy. Malindo Air presented its products and facilities, and continued with presentations on how to book and issue Malindo Air through the Sabre Red WorkSpace. After presentation participants get chance to win lucky draw of 2 return tickets from Malindo Air. Contact Sabre Indonesia for more … READ MORE
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A NEW WAY FOR TRAVEL COMPANIES TO CONNECT WITH TRAVELLERS
TRIPCASE TripCase gives your travellers a place to manage their trips. Connected to powerful web and mobile technology, this awardwinning itinerary management app delivers the right information at the right time – and to any device. Take advantage of the TripCase Document Delivery service to seamlessly email tickets, invoices and itineraries once bookings have been made. Your travellers can then access your agency-branded documents from their TripCase accounts, containing all the latest travel tips and exclusive information directly relevant to them. Managing your branding is easy with the TripCase Connect administrative portal. With 24 language options, you can configure documents and customize messages, as well as access related reports. WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU OFFER TECHNOLOGY front mobile app at no cost to your business. TripCase is available on all devices and platforms including Apple Watch! INCREASED ENGAGEMENT with your travellers before and during their trips, providing flight notifications, road maps, weather forecasts and more. BUILD POSITIVE BRAND image with configurable document delivery and in-app messaging, keeping your agency top of mind. HOW IT WORKS FOR YOU Keep travellers informed by providing information when they need it As soon a trip is booked in Sabre Red Workspace, the flight, car and hotel reservation details are automatically added to a traveller’s TripCase account. The traveller does not have to do anything, other than log in to his TripCase account to see his latest trip information. Any additional plans can be easily added by forwarding confirmation emails to trips@tripcase.com or by manually adding the information directly in his account. TripCase web portal is accessible for travellers to manage flight notification and trip reminders. Empower travel agencies with powerful solution for premium service delivery An agency may send a confirmation email with the important travel documents, e.g. itineraries and eTicket receipts or Electronic Miscellaneous Document. The email may include agency logo and is configurable to support 24 languages. This service is free for all agencies that encourage TripCase Connect adminstrative portal is available for travel agencies to access archived documentations and manage document delivery setup to suit business operations. HOW WILL YOU STAND OUT OFFER PREMIUM SERVICES to travellers at no cost, e.g. Trip Reminder, Flight Notifications, Graphical Seat Map, Weathers and Destination Information, etc. SUPPORT TRIPCASE WEB & TRIPCASE MOBILE APP IN 9 LANGUAGES, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Korea (Hangul), Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. PREMIUM TRIPCASE SERVICES that meet the unique needs of corporations are available through TripCase Corporate. … READ MORE
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SABRE PRESENTS A GLOBAL VISION FOR THE ASIA PACIFIC TRAVEL COMMUNITY AS ABACUS REBRANDS
SINGAPORE, November 2, 2015 – Sabre Corporation (NASDAQ: SABR), the leading technology provider to the global travel industry has announced a rebrand of all its acquired Abacus assets in Asia Pacific, effective today. Over 100 wholly owned and affiliated offices across the region will now operate as Sabre, with travel agency and supplier customers engaging with their local teams at Sabre Travel Network Asia Pacific and via an expanded corporate domain at www.sabre.com/apac. The rebrand reflects Sabre’s aim of connecting its entire travel community so that Asia Pacific agents can shop the world’s largest marketplace for travel, while suppliers gain access to a global distribution channel of over 425,000 on and offline wholesale, corporate and leisure travel outlets. “The rebrand recognizes the global potential of Asia Pacific’s evolving travel businesses, especially those focused on the opportunities online,” said Roshan Mendis, senior vice president of Sabre Travel Network Asia Pacific. “We want every travel agent and regional supplier to readily access our global and local software, data, mobile and distribution services, to enjoy the benefit of one unified and market-aligned global Sabre brand.” From today, www.abacus.com.sg visitors will transfer to www.sabre.com/apac to discover more about the global travel technology leader and its presence, support and investment in the Asia Pacific region. “For our customers and prospects, the message is that Sabre is the partner of choice for faster shared innovation and accelerated growth. We will help all our Asia Pacific customers to compete in new markets and win,” added Mendis. Today’s brand change also coincides with Sabre’s acquisition of a third national marketing company, based in Malaysia to follow Singapore and Hong Kong. Abacus Distribution Systems (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd is now a wholly owned, integral part of one Sabre. For more, visit: http://www.sabre.com/locations/apac/releases … READ MORE
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Four More Asian Carriers Adopt Abacus Paperless EMD Technology
[ezcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””] Abacus International, the leading travel solutions provider in Asia Pacific, today announced that four more Asian carriers have adopted the Abacus electronic miscellaneous document (EMD) technology: Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and Cathay Pacific, together with Hong Kong-based Dragonair. Responding to the IATA mandate for all miscellaneous documents issued from January 2014 to be electronic, many airlines have partnered with Abacus to implement the required proprietary technology, creating a new paperless ticketing environment. Beyond the benefits of full digitization, carriers gain the ability to track their ancillary sales, with Abacus e-coupons for lounge access, baggage, in-flight Wifi and more. Databases will be more closely aligned with the trade channel on transactions. “With Abacus EMD, airlines can simultaneously go green, drive efficiencies and boost yields,” explained Division Head, Airline Distribution at Abacus, Ho Hoong Mau. “We are delighted to help four more powerful brands in Asia’s burgeoning aviation industry to achieve the EMD standard, realizing the benefits in terms of cash and credit card reimbursements and ancillary sales through the region’s trade channel.” Lee Ser Yi, Vice President, Corporate Sales and Distribution, Singapore Airlines added, “Adopting the Abacus EMD solution allows Singapore Airlines to improve our customer experience by automating miscellaneous fees and deposit payments, while reducing paper dependency and related costs. We are pleased to be able to take this to our key customers through Abacus.” Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, Cathay Pacific and Dragonair join the extensive list of global airlines who have adopted the Abacus EMD solution, contributing to IATA’s planned sunset of the legacy virtual Miscellaneous Charge Order (vMCO). For more information, contact: marketing@abacus.com.sg. [/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end id=”” class=”” … READ MORE
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PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)
Dear Sabre customer, As previously communicated, 30 June is the deadline for disabling SSL/early TLS and implementing TLS 1.2, a more secure encryption protocol, in order to meet the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) for safeguarding payment data. It is in our mutual best interest to be prepared well in advance of the deadline so there are no resulting business impacts to Sabre or our customers. Beginning 19 June, Sabre will block traffic that uses non-compliant SSL protocols and versions of TLS protocols prior to 1.2. This action will allow both Sabre and our customers the chance to validate that systems will operate as expected before the 30 June deadline and the non-compliant protocols are permanently disabled. Additionally, we will conduct a test run that will allow both Sabre and our customers the chance to catalog and remediate any unforeseen effects before June 19. During the test run listed below, Sabre Web Services will stop accepting non-compliant connections. Any products not upgraded to compliant versions will stop working as will any custom applications not using TLS 1.2 to connect to Sabre Web Services. Non-compliant connections will be restored at the end of the test run. Test Run: 10 June 2018 from 09:00 SGT to 13:00 SGT / 02:00 BST to 06:00 BST (9 June 2018 from 20:00 CDT to 00:00 CDT) You can evaluate your PCI status and find more information on how to become PCI compliant on the IATA website. The final change for non-compliant connections is scheduled for 19 June at 08:00 SGT / 01:00 BST (18 June at 19:00 CDT). There will be no exceptions. Please understand that your business operations will be impacted if you do not take action prior to this date (ensure desktop software can support TLS 1.2 – most notably Operating System, Web Browser, and/or Citrix desktop client). Remember, Windows XP and Vista do not support TLS 1.2, which may make your agency vulnerable to known security risks. Any computers on Windows XP or Vista should upgrade to a newer operating system for improved security and compliance. Additionally, these operating systems are no longer supported by Microsoft and Sabre – further increasing their vulnerability. We will continue to send you reminders periodically prior to the deadline. However, we strongly encourage you to upgrade now and thus avoid last-minute hassles. If you have already upgraded to TLS 1.2, let us know so we can remove you from future reminders. Please contact your Account Director or Sabre Technical Support Team with any questions. Best Regards, Your Sabre … READ MORE
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Eid Mubarak Greetings & Sabre Indonesia Office Hour During Lebaran Period
Eid Mubarak to You and Your Family! All management and staffs of PT Sabre Travel Network Indonesia would like to send the warmest greetings to all those celebrating Eid Al-Fitr. May the blessings of Allah fill your life with happiness and open all the doors of success now and always. Due to the Eid Al-Fitr holidays, please note that Sabre Indonesia offices will be temporarily closed from 11 – 20 June 2018. During the holidays, our Helpdesk and Electra Developer team will remain stand by on June 11 – 14 and 18 – 20, from 8.30 AM to 2.30 PM. Customer Support after office hour HP : 0816 920 832 atau 0812 186 2323 Email : helpdesk@sabretn.co.id, technical@sabretn.co.id, marketing@sabretn.co.id , electra-support@sabretn.co.id Thank you for your kind attention and Happy Holiday! Best Regards, Sabre Travel Network … READ MORE