By Jakub Olesiuk and Matteo Allievi
(Reuters) - Spanish travel booking group Amadeus said on Wednesday it expects its revenue to grow between 11% and 14.5% this year after a solid 2023 boosted by the world travel post-pandemic recovery which allowed it to raise its dividend by two thirds.
"We are optimistic about our growth in 2024 and beyond," Chief Executive Luis Maroto said in a statement.
Adjusted net profit last year jumped 60% from the previous year out of revenue which rose 21%, Amadeus said. As a result it raised its dividend paid out of 2023 profit to 1.24 euros per share, from 0.74 euros the year before.
"Amadeus is one of the few companies in the sector that resumed the dividend after the pandemic, as Melia and IAG (LON:ICAG) have not yet said anything about it," said GVC analyst Gaesco Jaime Pallares.
Amadeus shares were 0.2% in early morning trading, recouping earlier losses, while the IBEX blue chip index was down 0.1%.
After the two-year pandemic slump, Amadeus has continued to benefit from a leisure travel boom despite high inflation rates and tightening monetary conditions.
The company signalled a slowdown in the fourth quarter as booking cancellations rose - due to the geopolitical situation in the Middle East - mainly in North America, the Middle East and Africa.
"The recovery in global air traffic during the fourth quarter continued, albeit at a slower pace than prior quarters," the company said.
Amadeus, Spain's fifth-largest listed company by market capitalisation, said air ticket bookings in 2023 were still 22% lower than during 2019.
Airline profits are set to stabilise in 2024 as continued growth in post-pandemic travel is offset by the high cost of capital and capacity constraints, industry group IATA said in December.
The number of travellers globally is set to climb to historic levels, with 4.7 billion people expected to travel in 2024 compared with 4.5 billion in 2019, the organisation added.
($1 = 0.9238 euros)