Sabre missed revenue and earnings goals in the second quarter and lowered its expectations for the remainder of 2025, due to lower-than-expected air distribution bookings.
Sabre previously forecasted year-over-year revenue growth in the low single digits in the second quarter, but revenue actually fell 1%, to $687 million. The company expected adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of around $140 million in the second quarter, but recorded $127 million.
President and CEO Kurt Ekert called the first half of the year "dynamic and at times challenging."
In the second quarter, air bookings fell by 1% year over year, Ekert said. Corporate bookings were weak compared to leisure, he said, plus there has been a pullback in government and military travel.
He said Sabre has higher exposure to corporate and government travel than its competitors.
"While we expected some industry stabilization during the quarter, incremental industry weakness emerged in June and continued into July, which was the driver of our air distribution booking shortfall to expectations," he said.
Hotel distribution bookings grew 2% in the quarter, he said.
As a result of second-quarter trends, Sabre reduced its full-year guidance. It now expects flat or low-single-digit revenue growth, and 4% to 10% growth in air distribution volume. Full-year adjusted EBITDA of $530 million to $570 million is expected.
A financial analyst asked Ekert why Sabre's previous guidance was so optimistic.
"Notwithstanding the turbulence of the travel market, based on what we could see in May and before then, we were confident in our path towards achieving the prior full-year 2025 outlook," he said. "Since that time, the market has continued to change. For example, airlines have pared back capacity, and ultimately, as we shared in our prepared comments today, we saw incremental industry weakness in June and into July."
Sabre recorded a net loss of $256 million in the quarter.