Sabre Corp
For the period ended Dec 31, 2024. Filed Feb 20, 2025.
View on SEC.govAbout this filing
A company's yearly report to the SEC, with audited financial statements. It is the fullest account a company gives of its business, its finances and the risks it sees.
FY2024 · Filed Feb 20, 2025
Extracted filing text, with the paragraph anchors used by the comparison.
See the whole filing, with its images and exhibitsContents
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity Outlook
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Our current principal source of liquidity is our cash and cash equivalents on hand. As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, our cash and cash equivalents and outstanding letters of credit were as follows (in thousands):
| As of December 31, | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | |
| Cash and cash equivalents | $724,479 | $648,207 |
| Outstanding balance under the AR Facility(1) | 82,200 | 110,000 |
| Available undrawn balance under the AR Facility(1) | — | 400 |
| Outstanding letters of credit under the bilateral letter of credit facility | 12,535 | 11,514 |
| Available under the bilateral letter of credit facility | 7,465 | 8,486 |
(1)AR Facility (as defined below) does not include the FILO Facility (as defined below).
As of December 31, 2024, we had$82 million outstanding under the AR Facility. The AR Facility matures on March 29, 2027 and allows us the ability to prepay the principal amount prior to the maturity date without penalty See Note 10. Debt.
We consider cash equivalents to be highly liquid investments that are readily convertible into cash. Securities with contractual maturities of three months or less, when purchased, are considered cash equivalents. We record changes in a book overdraft position, in which our bank account is not overdrawn but recently issued and outstanding checks result in a negative general ledger balance, as cash flows from financing activities. We invest in a money market fund which is classified as cash and cash equivalents in our consolidated balance sheets and statements of cash flows. We held no short-term investments as of December 31, 2024 and 2023. We had $21 million held as cash collateral for standby letters of credit in restricted cash on our consolidated balance sheets as of December 31, 2024 and 2023.
Liquidity Outlook
The travel ecosystem has shifted over the past few years, resulting in the changing needs of our airline, hotel and agency customers, for which we have established strategic priorities with the goal of achieving sustainable long-term growth. We have experienced volume growth that has generally leveled off, which may continue into the future and could impact our rate of growth. These changes have had, and we believe they will continue to have, a material negative impact on our financial results and liquidity, and this negative impact may continue. Given the uncertain economic environment, we cannot provide assurance that the assumptions used to estimate our liquidity requirements will be accurate. However, based on our assumptions and estimates with respect to our financial condition, we believe that we have resources to sufficiently fund our liquidity requirements over at least the next twelve months, including the aggregate payment of approximately $231 million of principal due at maturity under current debt facilities.
In 2023 and 2024, we refinanced and extended the maturity on portions of our debt, which negatively impacted our results due to increasing interest rates, as well as negatively impacted our liquidity due to our utilizing cash from our balance sheet. In the second quarter of 2023, we began implementing a cost reduction plan designed to reposition our business to the current environment and to structurally reduce our cost base. We believe our cash position and the liquidity measures we have taken will provide additional flexibility as we manage through continued headwinds. We will continue to monitor our liquidity levels and take additional steps should we determine they are necessary.
We utilize cash and cash equivalents primarily to pay our operating expenses, make capital expenditures, invest in our information technology infrastructure, products and offerings, pay taxes, service our debt as it becomes due, and pay other long- term liabilities. Free cash flow is calculated as cash flow from operations reduced by additions to property and equipment. We expect the full year 2025 free cash flow to be greater than $200 million, which we expect to be impacted by normal seasonality on a quarterly basis.
Our ability to generate cash depends on many factors beyond our control, and any failure to meet our debt service obligations could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our ability to make payments on and to refinance our indebtedness, and to fund working capital needs and planned capital expenditures will depend on our ability to generate cash in the future, which is subject to general economic, financial, competitive, business, legislative, regulatory and other factors that are beyond our control. See “Risk Factors—We may require more cash than we generate in our operating activities, and additional funding on reasonable terms or at all may not be available.”
We have regularly evaluated and considered, and in the future we will continue to evaluate and consider, strategic acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, equity method investments, refinancing our existing debt or repurchasing our outstanding debt obligations in open market or in privately negotiated transactions, as well as other transactions we believe may create stockholder value or enhance financial performance. These transactions may require cash expenditures or generate proceeds and, to the extent they require cash expenditures, may be funded through a combination of cash on hand, debt or equity offerings.
While our business has incurred net losses on a GAAP basis, we recognized federal taxable income in 2024 based on our operating and non-operating results pursuant to the provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that limit interest expense deduction and the annual use of net operating loss (“NOL”) carryforwards, and requires companies to capitalize and amortize research and development costs. As a result, we expect to be a U.S. federal cash taxpayer in 2025, and we also expect to benefit from the utilization of NOLs in 2025 to the extent available. We expect to continue to benefit from our NOLs and certain tax credits in the near-term beyond 2025. Additionally, several countries, primarily Canada and in Europe, have proposed or adopted DST on revenue earned by multinational companies from the provision of certain digital services, such as the use of an online marketplace, regardless of physical presence. We record DST in selling, general and administrative costs in the consolidated statements of operations. During the second quarter of 2024, we recorded $8 million of DST related to recently enacted legislation in Canada, of which $6 million was retroactive to periods prior to 2024. These amounts will become due in the second quarter of 2025. We are continuing to analyze the ongoing impacts of DST on our business in various jurisdictions and currently expect future DST expense to be lower than current periods, unless additional jurisdictions adopt DST with a retroactive date. In the third quarter and fourth quarters of 2024, we increased our DST reserves further for additional jurisdictions that we believe are applicable; payment of these amounts may negatively impact our cash flow.
The 2023 Term Loan Agreement, as defined below, requires that we maintain cash balances of at least $100 million in certain foreign subsidiaries. Otherwise, our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities held by our foreign subsidiaries are available to satisfy domestic liquidity needs arising in the ordinary course of business, including liquidity needs associated with our domestic debt service requirements. We do not consider undistributed foreign earnings to be indefinitely reinvested as of December 31, 2024, with certain limited exceptions and have not, in those cases, recorded corresponding deferred taxes. We consider the undistributed capital investments in most of our foreign subsidiaries to be indefinitely reinvested as of December 31, 2024 and have not provided deferred taxes on any outside basis differences.
Contractual Obligations
Our material cash requirements consist of the following contractual obligations, excluding pension obligations. See Note 17. Pension and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans, to our consolidated financial statements. We had no off balance sheet arrangements during the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022.
Debt
Our debt obligation includes all interest and principal of borrowings under our senior secured credit facilities, senior secured term loan due 2028, securitization facility, senior secured notes due 2025, 2027 and 2029 and senior exchangeable notes due 2025 and 2026. Under certain circumstances, we are required to pay a percentage of the excess cash flow, if any, generated each year to our lenders which is not reflected in the amount disclosed below. Interest on the senior secured credit facilities, senior secured term loan due 2028 and securitization facility is based on the SOFR rate or the Reference Rate plus a base margin and includes the effect of interest rate swaps. See Note 10. Debt, to our consolidated financial statements. As of December 31, 2024, we had a total debt obligation, including interest, of $7 billion, with $623 million due within the next 12 months. Interest capitalized or expected to be capitalized into debt as paid-in-kind is included in the period it will ultimately become due. For purposes of this disclosure, we have used projected SOFR or Reference Rates, as applicable, for all future periods.
Lease obligations
We lease approximately 800 thousand square feet of office space in 56 locations in 38 countries. Lease payment escalations are based on fixed annual increases, local consumer price index changes or market rental reviews. We have renewal options of various term lengths in approximately 24 leases. We have 1 purchase option and no restrictions imposed by our leases concerning dividends or additional debt. See Note 13. Leases, to our consolidated financial statements. As of December 31, 2024, we had total lease obligation of $88 million, with $18 million due within the next 12 months.
IT agreements
Certain agreements with technology providers, including for the provision of outsourcing services for our IT infrastructure and applications and the provision of certain cloud-based services, include minimum amounts due for the provision of those services. Contractual minimums are annual in some instances and span multiple years in other contracts. As of December 31, 2024, we had total IT agreement obligations of $1.9 billion, with $267 million due within the next 12 months. Actual payments may vary significantly from the minimum amounts calculated and include our estimated spend for those contracts with committed spend covering multiple years.
Purchase obligations
Purchase obligations represent an estimate of open purchase orders and contractual obligations in the ordinary course of business for which we have not received the goods or services as of December 31, 2024. Although open purchase orders are considered enforceable and legally binding, the terms generally allow us the option to cancel, reschedule and adjust our requirements based on our business needs prior to the delivery of goods or performance of services. As of December 31, 2024, we had a total purchase obligation of $240 million, with $173 million due within the next 12 months.
Letters of credit
Our letters of credit consist of stand-by letters of credit, underwritten by a group of lenders and backed by cash collateral, which we primarily issue in the normal course of business. There were no claims made against any standby letters of credit during the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022. As of December 31, 2024, we had a total obligation of $13 million, with $10 million due within the next 12 months.
Legal obligation
In December 2024, we entered into a settlement agreement in which we agreed to pay US Airways an aggregate of $20 million, due within the next 12 months. See Note 18. Commitments and Contingencies, to our consolidated financial statements for further details.
Uncertain tax positions
Uncertain tax positions include associated interest and penalties. The timing of related cash payments for substantially all of these liabilities is inherently uncertain because the ultimate amount and timing of such liabilities is affected by factors which are variable and outside our control. As of December 31, 2024, we had a total obligation of $39 million, with $1 million due within the next 12 months.
Capital Resources
As of December 31, 2024, our outstanding debt totaled $5.1 billion, which is net of debt issuance costs and unamortized discounts of $156 million. Currently approximately 47% of our debt, net of cash and hedging impacts from interest rates swaps, is variable and impacted by changes in interest rates. Approximately 27% of our debt is variable, excluding the Senior Secured Term Loan due in 2028, where interest rate pricing is subject to the highest yield to maturity of Sabre GLBL secured debt as defined by the Reference Rate. See “Risk Factors—We are exposed to interest rate fluctuations." From time to time, we review and consider opportunities to refinance or repurchase our existing debt, as well as conduct debt or equity offerings to support future strategic investments, support operational requirements, provide additional liquidity, or pay down debt.
The global capital markets experienced periods of volatility throughout 2023 and 2024 in response to the geopolitical conflict, changes in the rate of inflation, and uncertainty regarding the path of U.S. monetary policy. During 2023 and 2024, we refinanced portions of our debt which resulted in interest rates higher than prior years, increasing current and future interest expense. However, the 2023 Term Loan Agreement, as defined below, provides the ability for interest to be payable-in-kind, such that amounts due are capitalized into the note balance at the payment date rather than paid in cash, reducing our near-term cash payments for interest on this debt. Subject to market conditions, we may opportunistically refinance portions of our debt in the near term which, at current interest rates and market conditions, may negatively impact our interest expense or result in higher dilution. In addition, from time to time, we may decide to repurchase or otherwise retire portions of our existing indebtedness through transactions in the open market, privately negotiated transactions, tender offers, exchange offers or otherwise, or we may redeem or prepay portions of our existing indebtedness. Any such action will depend on market conditions and various other factors existing at that time.
Our continued access to capital resources depends on multiple factors, including global economic conditions, the condition of global financial markets, the availability of sufficient amounts of financing, our ability to meet debt covenant requirements, our operating performance, and our credit ratings. These factors could lead to further market disruption and potential increases to our funding costs. While the terms of our outstanding indebtedness allow us to incur additional debt, subject to limitations, our ability to incur additional secured indebtedness is significantly limited. As a result, we expect that any material increases in total indebtedness, if available and to the extent issued in the future, may be unsecured. If our credit ratings were to be downgraded, or financing sources were to become more limited or to ascribe higher risk to our rating levels or our industry, our access to capital and the cost of any financing would be negatively impacted. There is no guarantee that additional debt financing will be available in the future to fund our obligations, or that it will be available on commercially reasonable terms, in which case we may need to seek other sources of funding. In addition, the terms of future debt agreements could include more restrictive covenants than those we are currently subject to, which could restrict our business operations. For more information, see "Risk Factors—We may require more cash than we generate in our operating activities, and additional funding on reasonable terms or at all may not be available."
Under the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement, dated as of February 19, 2013 (the "Amended and Restated Credit Agreement"), the loan parties are subject to certain customary non-financial covenants, including restrictions on incurring certain types of indebtedness, creation of liens on certain assets, making of certain investments, and payment of dividends. In the first quarter of 2023, we entered into the AR Facility of up to$200 million, and in the first quarter of 2024, we increased the overall size of the AR Facility through the FILO Facility, resulting in a Securitization Facility of$235 million (as each of such terms is defined below). In June 2023, we entered into a series of transactions including an intercompany secured term loan agreement (the "Pari Passu Loan Agreement") and a new term loan credit agreement with certain lenders (the "2023 Term Loan Agreement"), which provides for a senior secured term loan of up to $700 million in aggregate principal amount and requires that we maintain cash balances of at least $100 million in certain foreign subsidiaries and other covenants to ensure collateral of the applicable foreign guarantors meet certain minimum levels. The 2023 Term Loan Agreement also includes various non-financial covenants, including restrictions on making certain investments, disposition activities and affiliate transactions. In addition, the 2023 Term Loan Agreement contains customary prepayment events and financial and negative covenants and other representations, covenants and events of default based on, but in certain instances more restrictive than, the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement. As of December 31, 2024, we are in compliance with all covenants under the terms of the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement, the Securitization Facility (as defined below), the 2023 Term Loan Agreement and the Pari Passu Loan Agreement.
We are required to pay down our term loans by an amount equal to 50% of annual excess cash flow, as defined in the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement. This percentage requirement may decrease or be eliminated if certain leverage ratios are achieved. Based on our results for the year ended December 31, 2023, we were not required to make an excess cash flow payment in 2024, and no excess cash flow payment is expected to be required in 2025 with respect to our results for the year ended December 31, 2024.
We are further required to pay down the term loans with proceeds from certain asset sales, net of taxes, or borrowings, that are not otherwise reinvested in the business, as provided in the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement. As of December 31, 2023, we had reinvested $277 million of the proceeds from the disposition of AirCentre. In 2023, we prepaid $16 million in principal and unaccrued interest on 2021 Term Loan B-2, and $32 million in principal and unaccrued interest on 2022 Term Loan B-1 and 2022 Term Loan B-2, using the remaining net cash proceeds from the sale of AirCentre, in accordance with the contractual terms of the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement dated February 19, 2013.
Recent Events Impacting Our Liquidity and Capital Resources
Senior Secured Credit Facilities
On November 25, 2024, we entered into a third and fourth amendment to the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement (together, the “Term Loan B Amendments”) to which Sabre GLBL agreed to exchange $775 million of our existing senior secured term loans (the “Existing Term Loans”) for the same amount of new senior secured term loans maturing on November 15, 2029 (the “2024 Term Loans”). We incurred no additional indebtedness as a result of this refinancing. The Term Loan B Amendments included the application of the proceeds of a new $700 million and $75 million term loan “B” facility (the “2024 Term Loan B-1” and the”2024 Term Loan B-2”, respectively), borrowed by Sabre GLBL under the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement, with the effect of extending the maturity of approximately $775 million of the existing Term Loan B credit facility under the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement. Sabre GLBL did not receive any cash proceeds from the exchange and did not incur additional indebtedness as a result of the Term Loan B Amendments. We incurred third-party fees of approximately $10 million plus $14 million of accrued and unpaid interest, of which $9 million and $14 million were paid in cash, respectively, during the year ending December 31, 2024, and $1 million of third-party fees will be paid subsequent to December 31, 2024. We determined that the Term Loan B Amendments represent a debt modification and therefore we expensed all $10 million of third-party costs, to Other, Net in our consolidated statements of operations for the year ended December 31, 2024 and are included in cash flow from operations as paid. The 2024 Term Loan B-1 and 2024 Term Loan B-2 mature on November 15, 2029. They offer us the ability to prepay or repay with a 1.0% call premium on or prior to the six-month anniversary of the amendment effective date, or without a call premium thereafter. The 2024 Term Loans will bear interest at Term SOFR, plus an applicable margin of 600 basis points, or at base rate, plus an applicable margin of 500 basis points. The term SOFR for the 2024 Term Loans is subject to a floor of 0.50% per annum and the base rate is subject to a floor of 1.50% per annum. Except for the extended maturity and new pricing terms, the 2024 Term Loans have substantially similar terms as the Existing Term Loans, including guarantees and security interests.
Senior Secured Notes
On November 25, 2024, Sabre GLBL exchanged approximately $246 million in principal amount of our 8.625% senior secured notes due 2027 (the “June 2027 Notes”) and approximately $509 million in principal amount of our 11.250% senior secured notes due December 2027 (the “December 2027 Notes”) for approximately $800 million of new 10.750% senior secured notes due November 2029 (the “November 2029 Notes”) (the “Initial November 2024 Exchange Transactions”). Shortly thereafter, on November 27, 2024, Sabre GLBL issued an additional approximately $25 million in aggregate principal amount of November 2029 Notes in exchange for approximately $21 million of our 9.25% senior secured notes due 2025 (the “April 2025 Notes”) and approximately $4 million of our 7.375% senior secured notes due 2025 (the “September 2025 Notes”) (together with the Initial November 2024 Exchange Transactions, the “November 2024 Exchange Transactions”). Other than the issuance date and issue price, these additional November 2029 notes have the same terms, form a single series with, and are fungible with the November 2029 Notes described above. The November 2029 Notes bear interest at a rate of 10.750% per annum, and interest payments are due semi-annually in arrears on May 15 and November 15 of each year, beginning May 15, 2025. The November 2029 Notes mature on November 15, 2029. Sabre GLBL did not receive any cash proceeds from the exchange and did not incur additional indebtedness as a result of the exchange other than $45 million of early exchange consideration on the November 2029 Notes, which was recorded as a discount. We incurred $11 million in fees, along with $31 million in accrued and unpaid interest, of which $10 million and $31 million were paid in cash, respectively, during the year ending December 31, 2024, and $1 million of third-party fees will be paid subsequent to December 31, 2024. We determined that the November 2024 Exchange Transactions, including the impact of the early exchange consideration, represent a debt modification and therefore, expensed $11 million of debt modification costs in Other, net in our consolidated statements of operations for the year ended December 31, 2024 and included in cash flow from operations as paid. The November 2029 Notes are jointly and severally, irrevocably and unconditionally guaranteed by Sabre Holdings and all of Sabre GLBL’s restricted subsidiaries that guarantee Sabre GLBL’s credit facilities governed by the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement.
On March 7, 2024, Sabre GLBL exchanged approximately $36 million of the September 2025 Notes and approximately $7 million of the April 2025 Notes for approximately $50 million aggregate principal amount of additional June 2027 Notes (the "March 2024 Senior Secured Exchange Transaction"). No additional indebtedness was incurred as a result of the March 2024 Senior Secured Exchange Transaction, other than amounts covering exchange fees of approximately $7 million. Other than the issuance date and issue price, these additional June 2027 Notes have the same terms, form a single series with, and are fungible with the June 2027 Notes issued in September 2023. We incurred additional fees of approximately $1 million, which were funded with cash on hand. We determined that the March 2024 Senior Secured Exchange Transaction, including the impact of the exchange fees, represents a debt extinguishment and therefore recognized a loss on extinguishment of debt during the year ended December 31, 2024 of approximately $7 million, primarily consisting of exchange fees related to the June 2027 Notes.
On March 19, 2024, Sabre GLBL exchanged $150 million aggregate principal amount of our outstanding 4.000% senior exchangeable notes due 2025 (the “2025 Exchangeable Notes”) for $150 million aggregate principal amount of Sabre GLBL's newly-issued 7.32% senior exchangeable notes due 2026 (the "2026 Exchangeable Notes" and together with the 2025 Exchangeable Notes, the "Exchangeable Notes") and approximately $30 million of cash (the "March 2024 Exchangeable Notes Exchange Transaction"). We incurred additional fees of approximately $5 million in associated fees and expenses plus $3 million of accrued and unpaid interest, all of which were funded with cash on hand. We determined that the March 2024 Exchangeable
Notes Exchange Transaction, including the impact of the exchange fees, represents a debt extinguishment and therefore recognized a loss on extinguishment of debt of $31 million. We did not receive any cash proceeds from the exchange and did not incur additional indebtedness in excess of the aggregate principal amount of existing notes that were exchanged. The 2026 Exchangeable Notes are senior, unsecured obligations of Sabre GLBL, accrue interest payable semi-annually in arrears on February 1 and August 1 of each year, beginning on August 1 2024, and mature on August 1, 2026, unless earlier repurchased or exchanged in accordance with specified circumstances and terms of the indenture governing the 2026 Exchangeable Notes (the "2026 Exchangeable Notes Indenture"). As of December 31, 2024, we have$150 million aggregate principal amount of 2026 Exchangeable Notes outstanding.
Securitization Facility
On February 14, 2023, Sabre Securitization, LLC, our indirect, consolidated subsidiary and a special purpose entity (“Sabre Securitization”), entered into a three-year committed accounts receivable securitization facility (as amended from time to time the “Securitization Facility”) of up to $200 million with PNC Bank, N.A.
On March 29, 2024, Sabre Securitization increased the overall size of the existing Securitization Facility from $200 million to $235 million by issuing a $120 million "first-in, last-out" term loan tranche under the Securitization Facility (such tranche, the "FILO Facility") and reducing the revolving tranche under the Securitization Facility to $115 million (such tranche, the "AR Facility"). In connection with the issuance of the FILO Facility, the maturity date of the Securitization Facility was extended to March 29, 2027 and the springing maturity date thereunder was terminated. The FILO Facility provides the ability to prepay or repay at certain redemption premiums as set forth in the agreement. The net proceeds received from the FILO Facility of $117 million, net of $3 million in fees paid to creditors, will be used for general corporate purposes. We incurred additional fees of $4 million, which were funded with cash on hand.
The amount available for borrowings at any one time under the Securitization Facility is limited to a borrowing base calculated based on the outstanding balance of eligible receivables, subject to certain reserves. As of December 31, 2024, we had $202 million outstanding under the Securitization Facility, consisting of $82 million under the AR Facility and $120 million outstanding under the FILO Facility.
Dividends
The Preferred Stock accumulated cumulative dividends at a rate per annum equal to 6.50% payable, at our election, in cash, shares of our common stock or a combination of cash and shares of our common stock. We accrued $14 million of preferred stock dividends in our consolidated results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2023. During the year ended December 31, 2023, we paid cash dividends on our preferred stock of $16 million. On September 1, 2023, the mandatory conversion date, each outstanding share of Preferred Stock was automatically converted into shares of our common stock. See Note 14. Stock and Stockholders’ Equity for further details.
Share Repurchase Program
In February 2017, we announced the approval of a multi-year share repurchase program (the "Share Repurchase Program") to purchase up to $500 million of Sabre's common stock outstanding. Repurchases under the Share Repurchase Program may take place in the open market or privately negotiated transactions. During the year ended December 31, 2024, we did not repurchase any shares pursuant to the Share Repurchase Program. On March 16, 2020, we announced the suspension of share repurchases under the Share Repurchase Program in conjunction with the cash management measures we undertook as a result of the market conditions caused by COVID-19. As of December 31, 2024, the Share Repurchase Program remains suspended and approximately $287 million remains authorized for repurchases. In addition, the terms of certain of the agreements governing our indebtedness contain covenants that, among other things, limit our ability to repurchase our common stock. See “Risk Factors—The terms of our debt covenants could limit our discretion in operating our business and any failure to comply with such covenants could result in the default of all of our debt.”
Cash Flows
Operating Activities
Cash provided by operating activities totaled $71 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. The $14 million increase in operating cash flow from 2023 was primarily due to earnings growth, a $12 million decrease in interest payments related to our debt, primarily due to the deferral of paid-in-kind interest and a $31 million decrease in severance payments made in connection with our cost reduction plan. These changes were partially offset by payments of $17 million associated primarily with employee retention plans and $19 million paid for debt modification costs associated with the refinancing activity in the fourth quarter of 2024. Additionally, 2023 benefited from several working capital initiatives, which did not repeat in 2024.
Cash provided by operating activities totaled $56 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. The $333 million increase in operating cash flow from 2022 was primarily due to increased transaction volumes, partially offset by a $108 million increase in interest payments related to our debt and $48 million of severance payments made in connection with our cost reduction plan. Additionally, cash flow from operations in 2023 benefited from several working capital initiatives.
Investing Activities
For the year ended December 31, 2024, we used $84 million of cash for capital expenditures primarily related to software developed for internal use and acquired software licenses associated with our internal billing systems, partially offset by proceeds received from the sale of investment in securities of $55 million.
For the year ended December 31, 2023, we used $87 million of cash for capital expenditures primarily related to software developed for internal use, and $23 million for investment and acquisition-related activity.
Financing Activities
For the year ended December 31, 2024, we used $40 million for financing activities. Significant highlights of our financing activities included:
proceeds of $780 million from the issuance of the November 2029 Notes;
payment of $509 million on the December 2027 Notes, payment of $246 million on the June 2027 Notes, payment of $21 million of the April 2025 Notes and payment of $4 million of the September 2025 Notes;
proceeds of $775 million from the issuance of the 2024 Term Loans;
payment of $775 million on our Existing Term Loans;
proceeds of$150 million from the issuance of the 2026 Exchangeable Notes;
payment of $150 million on our 2025 Exchangeable Notes;
proceeds of $120 million from the issuance of the FILO Facility;
proceeds of$50 million from the issuance of our June 2027 Notes;
payment of $50 million for debt discount and issuance costs;
payment of $36 million on our September 2025 Notes and $7 million on our April 2025 Notes;
net payment of $28 million on borrowings on our AR Facility; and
net payments of $7 million from the settlement of employee stock awards.
For the year ended December 31, 2023, we used $94 million for financing activities. Significant highlights of our financing activities included:
proceeds of $853 million from the issuance of the 8.625% senior secured notes due 2027;
payment of $787 million on our 7.375% senior secured notes due 2025 and $66 million on our 9.25% senior secured notes due 2025;
proceeds of $677 million from the issuance of the Senior Secured Term Loan Due 2028;
payment of $665 million on our 9.25% senior secured notes due 2025, 2021 Term Loan B-1, 2021 Term Loan B-2 and 2022 Term Loan B-2;
payment of $160 million in debt discount and issuance costs;
net proceeds of $110 million from borrowings on our AR Facility;
payment of $56 million on our term loans under the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement, $48 million of which is a prepayment from the AirCentre disposition;
proceeds of $16 million from the sale of common shares of a subsidiary;
payment of $16 million in dividends on our preferred stock; and
net payments of $6 million from the settlement of employee stock awards.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Information related to Recent Accounting Pronouncements is included in Note 1. Summary of Business and Significant Accounting Policies, to our consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Critical Accounting Estimates
This discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based on our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect our reported assets and liabilities, revenues and expenses and other financial information. Actual results may differ significantly from these estimates, and our reported financial condition and results of operations could vary under different assumptions and conditions. In addition, our reported financial condition and results of operations could vary due to a change in the application of a particular accounting standard.
Our accounting policies that include significant estimates and assumptions include: (i) estimation for revenue recognition and multiple performance obligation arrangements, (ii) the evaluation of the recoverability of the carrying value of long-lived assets and goodwill, (iii) the evaluation of uncertainties surrounding the calculation of our tax assets and liabilities, and (iv) estimation of loss contingencies. We regard an accounting estimate underlying our financial statements as a “critical accounting estimate” if the accounting estimate requires us to make assumptions about matters that are uncertain at the time of estimation and if changes in the estimate are reasonably likely to occur and could have a material effect on the presentation of financial condition, changes in financial condition, or results of operations.
We have included below a discussion of the accounting policies involving material estimates and assumptions that we believe are most critical to the preparation of our financial statements, how we apply such policies and how results differing from our estimates and assumptions would affect the amounts presented in our financial statements. We have discussed the development, selection and disclosure of these accounting policies with our Audit Committee. Although we believe these policies to be the most critical, other accounting policies also have a significant effect on our financial statements and certain of these policies also require the use of estimates and assumptions. For further information about our significant accounting policies, see Note 1. Summary of Business and Significant Accounting Policies, to our consolidated financial statements.
Revenue Recognition and Multiple Performance Obligation Arrangements
Our agreements with customers of our Travel Solutions business may have multiple performance obligations which generally include software solutions through SaaS and hosted delivery, professional service fees and implementation services. We also evaluate performance obligations across multiple agreements when entered into with the same customer at or near the same time. These multiple performance obligation arrangements involve judgments, including estimating the selling prices of goods and services, estimating the total contract consideration and allocating amounts to each distinct performance obligation and forecasting future volumes.
Revenue recognition from our IT Solutions products requires significant judgments such as identifying distinct performance obligations including material rights within an agreement, estimating the total contract consideration and allocating amounts to each distinct performance obligation, determining whether variable pricing within a contract meets the allocation objective, and forecasting future volumes. For a small number of our contracts, we are required to forecast volumes as a result of pricing variability within the contract in order to calculate the rate for revenue recognition. Any changes in these judgments and estimates could have an impact on the revenue recognized in future periods.
We evaluate revenue recognition for agreements with customers which generally are represented by individual contracts but could include groups of contracts if the contracts are executed at or near the same time. Typically, access to our GDS and our professional service fees are separated from the implementation and software services. We account for separate performance obligations on an individual basis with value assigned to each performance obligation based on our best estimate of relative standalone selling price ("SSP"). Judgment is required to determine the SSP for each distinct performance obligation. SSP is assessed annually using a historical analysis of contracts with customers executed in the most recently completed calendar year to determine the range of selling prices applicable to a distinct good or service. In making these judgments, we analyze various factors, including discounting practices, price lists, contract prices, value differentiators, customer segmentation and overall market and economic conditions. Based on these results, the estimated SSP is set for each distinct product or service delivered to customers. As our market strategies evolve, we may modify pricing practices in the future which could result in changes to SSP.
Deferred customer advances and discounts are amortized against revenue in future periods as the related revenue is earned. Our contract assets include revenue recognized for services already transferred to a customer, for which the fulfillment of another contractual performance obligation is required, before we have the unconditional right to bill and collect based on contract terms. Contract assets are reviewed for recoverability on a periodic basis based on a review of impairment indicators. Deferred customer advances and discounts are reviewed for recoverability based on future contracted revenues and estimated direct costs of the contract when a significant event occurs that could impact the recoverability of the assets, such as a significant contract modification or early renewal of contract terms. These assets are directly supported by estimates of Passengers Boarded and booking volumes for specific customers over their remaining contractual terms. Due to the long-term nature of the relevant contracts, recovery of these assets is not sensitive to near-term declines in volumes. For the year ended December 31, 2024, impairment of these assets as a result of the related contracts becoming uncollectable, modified or canceled was $1 million. Contracts are priced to generate total revenues over the life of the contract that exceed any discounts or advances provided and any upfront costs incurred to implement the customer contract.
Goodwill and Intangible Assets
We have two reporting units associated with our continuing operations: Travel Solutions and Hospitality Solutions.
We evaluate goodwill for impairment on an annual basis or when impairment indicators exist. We begin our evaluation with a qualitative assessment of whether it is more likely than not that a reporting unit’s fair value is less than its carrying value before applying a quantitative assessment. Our qualitative assessments consider a variety of factors, including but not limited to domestic and international economic indicators, interest rates, our financial performance, and the most recent information from the International Air Transport Association ("IATA") about global passenger traffic, which we believe to be a key assumption. If it is determined through the evaluation of events or circumstances that the carrying value may not be recoverable, or if we decide to bypass the qualitative assessment, we perform a quantitative assessment comparing the estimated fair value of the reporting unit to which the goodwill has been assigned to the sum of the carrying value of the assets and liabilities of that unit. If the sum of the carrying value of the assets and liabilities of a reporting unit exceeds the estimated fair value of that reporting unit, the carrying value of the reporting unit’s goodwill is reduced to its fair value through an adjustment to the goodwill balance, resulting in an impairment charge. The determination of fair value requires us to make significant judgments and estimates including cash flow projections and assumptions related to market participants, the principal markets, and the highest and best use of the reporting units. Changes in the assumptions used in our impairment testing may result in future impairment losses which could have a material impact on our results of operations. As of our last quantitative test in 2023, fair value exceeded current value by more than 10% and our subsequent qualitative tests provided no indicators that it is more likely than not that fair value is less than carrying value. We utilize third-party appraisal firms to assist us in determining the fair value of a reporting unit as part of performing the quantitative assessment. We did not record any goodwill impairment charges for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022.
Definite-lived intangible assets are assigned depreciable lives of two to thirty years, depending on classification, and are evaluated for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of definite-lived intangible assets used in combination to generate cash flows largely independent of other assets may not be recoverable. If impairment indicators exist for definite-lived intangible assets, the undiscounted future cash flows associated with the expected service potential of the assets are compared to the carrying value of the assets. If our projection of undiscounted future cash flows is in excess of the carrying value of the intangible assets, no impairment charge is recorded. If our projection of undiscounted cash flows is less than the carrying value, the intangible assets are then measured at fair value and an impairment charge is recorded based on the excess of the carrying value of the assets over its fair value. We did not record material intangible asset impairment charges for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022.
Income Taxes
We recognize deferred tax assets and liabilities based on the temporary differences between the financial statement carrying amounts and the tax bases of assets and liabilities. We regularly review deferred tax assets by jurisdiction to assess their potential realization and establish a valuation allowance for portions of such assets that we believe will not be ultimately realized. In performing this review, we make estimates and assumptions regarding projected future taxable income, the expected timing of the reversals of existing temporary differences and the implementation of tax planning strategies. A change in these assumptions could cause an increase or decrease to the valuation allowance resulting in an increase or decrease in the effective tax rate, which could materially impact our results of operations. The current economic environment has caused increased uncertainty in determining certain key assumptions within the assessment of our future taxable income upon which recognition of deferred tax assets is assessed. At year end, we had a valuation allowance on a portion of our deferred tax assets based on our assessment that it is more likely than not that the deferred tax asset will not be realized. We believe that our estimates for the valuation allowances against deferred tax assets are appropriate based on current facts and circumstances.
When assessing the need for a valuation allowance, all positive and negative evidence is analyzed, including our ability to carry back NOLs to prior periods, the reversal of deferred tax liabilities, tax planning strategies and projected future taxable income. Significant losses related to COVID-19 resulted in a three-year cumulative loss in certain jurisdictions, which represents significant negative evidence regarding the ability to realize deferred tax assets. As a result, we maintain a cumulative valuation allowance on our U.S. federal and state deferred tax assets of $543 million and $53 million, respectively as of December 31, 2024. For non-U.S. deferred tax assets of certain subsidiaries, we maintained a cumulative valuation allowance on current year losses and other deferred tax assets of$131 million as of December 31, 2024. We reassess these assumptions regularly, which could cause an increase or decrease to the valuation allowance resulting in an increase or decrease in the effective tax rate and could materially impact our results of operations.
We operate in numerous countries where our income tax returns are subject to audit and adjustment by local tax authorities. Because we operate globally, the nature of the uncertain tax positions is often very complex and subject to change, and the amounts at issue can be substantial. It is inherently difficult and subjective to estimate such amounts, as we must determine the probability of various possible outcomes. We re-evaluate uncertain tax positions on a quarterly basis. This evaluation is based on factors including, but not limited to, changes in facts or circumstances, changes in tax law, effectively settled issues under audit and new audit activity. At December 31, 2024 and 2023, we had a liability, including interest and penalty, of $39 million and $61 million, respectively, for uncertain tax positions, of which$36 million and$57 million, respectively, would affect our effective tax rate if recognized. Such a change in recognition or measurement would result in the recognition of a tax benefit or an additional charge to the provision for income taxes from continuing operations.
Loss Contingencies
While certain legal proceedings and related indemnification obligations and certain tax matters to which we are a party specify the amounts claimed, these claims may not represent reasonably possible losses. Given the inherent uncertainties of litigation and tax claims, the ultimate outcome of these matters cannot be predicted, nor can the amount of possible loss or range of loss, if any, be reasonably estimated, except in circumstances where an aggregate litigation accrual has been recorded for probable and reasonably estimable loss contingencies. A determination of the amount of accrual required, if any, for these contingencies is made after careful analysis of each matter. The required accrual may change in the future due to new information or developments in each matter or changes in approach such as a change in settlement strategy in dealing with these matters. Changes in these factors could materially impact our results of operations.
The text of this filing, as the company filed it with the SEC, without its images or exhibits. This is not investment advice.