Intermoney | Amadeus (Hold, PO 65 €) announced yesterday, with the market open, that it will distribute to its shareholders an interim dividend of €0.50/share on 17 January. The stock will trade ex date on 15 January. The Group reiterates its dividend policy of a pay-out of between 40 and 50% of consolidated profit for the year. Specifically, for 2024, the Board of Directors expects to be close to the upper end of this range.
Assessment: With this announcement, Amadeus exceeds market expectations for an interim dividend of €0.49/share. For the full year 2023, Amadeus distributed €1.24/share, and we expect this amount to rise to €1.32 in 2024. At 9 months 2024, the Group generated EBITDA of €1.806bn, up 13% compared to 2023, finally exceeding the pre-pandemic figure by 2%. The Group has not recovered pre-pandemic booking levels (84%), also affected by new distribution channels, although in the income statement this has been more than compensated by the growth in IT services to airlines and airports (Air IT), as well as other services to hotels (Hospitality).
