Serko Limited (NZX:SKO), a leader in online travel booking and expense management, and Sabre Corporation (NASDAQ: SABR), the leading technology provider to the global travel industry, today announced a collaboration to develop the next generation of Sabre Online.
Sabre Online is Sabre’s corporate online booking tool for small and mid-sized businesses in Australia and New Zealand. The collaboration serves as a launch pad for the next generation of Sabre Online, while simultaneously expanding Serko’s market footprint.
The new version of Sabre Online, under the same name, will combine Sabre’s end-to-end offering with Serko’s established cloud-based booking platform. This provides existing Sabre Online customers with the ability to combine add-ons from Serko, such as Expense Management, whilst also providing a more scalable online booking tool with the unique ability to upgrade to a premium offering.
Darrin Grafton, Serko, CEO, said: “This is a really exciting opportunity for both Serko and Sabre. It gives Sabre access to a broader corporate online booking portfolio and gives Serko access to a market of mid-sized organisations, which is growing faster than any other market. Additionally, both Sabre and Serko’s Travel Management Company (TMC) customers will have access to a wider range of corporate travel solutions while enjoying the operational benefits of using a single underlying booking platform.”
Richard Morgan, regional director, Sabre Travel Network South Pacific, said: “By harnessing both Sabre’s and Serko’s expertise and technologies, this relationship will enable both companies to create a unique user experience that allows agents to include add-ons from Serko based on corporate customer needs. This ensures that we continue to meet the evolving needs of our customers, and provide our TMC and corporate customers with a unique competitive advantage.”
Roshan Mendis, senior vice president, Sabre Travel Network Asia Pacific, added that: “With corporate travel in the Asia Pacific region on an accelerated growth trajectory, corporate travel management companies are now required to achieve tighter cost control but without compromising the comfort of travellers. As a highly respected company in the market, Serko’s solutions for corporate travel in Australia and New Zealand perfectly complement Sabre’s. Our relationship demonstrates how innovation and technology can play an enabling role, ensuring that corporate travellers are having more of their personal preferences met.”
Upgrade of existing Sabre Online customers onto the new version of Sabre Online will start in Q3, 2016 and is expected to be completed before the end of the current financial year.
The deal is expected to be worth a minimum of NZ$1 million per annum and will start contributing to Serko’s revenue in the second half of FY17.
Investors should also read the trading update provided in the Chairman's Annual Meeting address released by Serko today. The Chairman's address is available on the NZX market announcement platform.
