Expedia share price rises as travel group increases bookings by 21 per cent
Shares in travel firm Expedia headed up by over 10 per cent in after hours trading after the group, which includes the Trivago, Hotels.com and Travelocity brands, posted its third quarter results.
The figures
The company posted $15.4bn (£10bn) in gross bookings for the three months to 30 September, up 21 per cent from the same period of last year. Revenue jumped 16 per cent to $1.94bn from $1.66bn. Expedia added more than 14,000 properties to its global portfolio during the quarter, which now stands at approximately 271,000 properties available on Expedia sites, an increase of 29 per cent compared to the third quarter of 2014.
Expedia completed its acquisition of Orbitz Worldwide in September, a deal worth around $1.6bn, and the results include 14 days of Orbitz financials.
Advertising & Media revenue, excluding eLong, increased by 23 per cent year-on-year to $538m. Expedia ended its 10 year relationship with eLong in May, selling its 62.4 per cent stake, after the division recorded a number of Ebitda losses.
Why it's interesting
Expedia has embarked on a number of acquisitions this year, buying not only Orbitz but also Travelocity, and another 25 per cent equity interest in the AirAsia Expedia joint venture. The group also got rid of eLong, and the impact of that move can be seen in the positive numbers recorded during the last quarter.
What TWC said
The group cited a “strong performance” in its core online travel agency business, and also said acquisitions added approximately nine percentage points of inorganic bookings growth for the quarter.
In short
Expedia has made some shrewd moves and seems to be travelling in the right direction.