Travelport’s increase in revenue driven by travel payment eNett

Travel commerce platform and services company Travelport recorded a solid first quarter thanks to its Beyond Air portfolio. The travel payment solutions company eNett under it had an 81% increase in revenue.

Travelport Worldwide announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2018. Travelport reported a total of net revenue increase of 4%, to $678 million. The company recorded net income increased 6%, to US$59m. Travel Commerce Platform increased 5%, to US$653m, while the Technology Services portion of its business saw a 12% decrease in revenue to US$25m.

The Beyond Air portion of Travelport’s business saw a revenue increase of 22%, to US$180m, contributing 28% of the Travel Commerce Platform’s revenue. The growth in revenue was largely driven by the acceleration of eNett commercial payments platform, which helped the company recover from last year’s losses. eNett almost doubled its revenue amounting to US$74m.

eNett develops automated payment solutions for the travel industry. The company offers credit card processing, EFT/direct debit processing, merchant services and issuing of virtual account numbers (VANs). eNett’s VANs offer a safe and secure payment transaction as unique numbers are generated for every transaction making it popular among clients.

At the earnings call, Travelport’s president and CEO Gordon Wilson praised eNett’s unprecedented growth as a “standout performance” and added that it is thanks to the doubling volume of payments from existing customers.

Wilson hinted that the company has immense potential. “We think we are still barely scratching the surface of potential,” Wilson said.

The company’s chief executive also claimed that this is just the start of a strong year and pointed out that both adjusted EBITDA and core travel commerce platform revenue exceeded their expectations.

“These results include the well-documented loss of one large travel agency in the Pacific region, which impacted Travel Commerce Platform revenue growth by 5 percentage points and Adjusted EBITDA by nine percentage points. Our performance, therefore, demonstrates the continued success of our strategy, resulting in Air revenue growth in Asia and Europe in the quarter, as well as significant air market share gains in the latter region,” Wilson said.

“Beyond Air revenue growth accelerated to 22%, largely due to eNett as the business continued to expand share of wallet at several large OTAs in Asia Pacific and Europe. We continue to invest in innovation to drive growth,” he added.

After all, Travelport delivered what it promised of achieving sales growth and striking new partnerships despite the sting of losses still fresh in investors’ minds. There is nothing one can do but to look forward to what Travelport can do.