This morning, we issued an earnings press release, which is available on our website at investors.sabre.com. More information on these risks and uncertainties is contained in our earnings release issued this morning and our SEC filings, including our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025. References during today's call to Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin, normalized Adjusted EBITDA, and normalized Adjusted EBITDA margin have been adjusted to exclude certain items. The most directly comparable GAAP measures and reconciliations for non-GAAP measures are available in the earnings release and other documents posted on our website at investors.sabre.com.

Despite these challenges, we remained focused on execution and met or exceeded our financial guidance in the fourth quarter and ended the year with positive momentum. Sean Williams is appointed Chief Operating Officer and will lead Sabre's revenue and commercial operations functions. On today's call, I've invited Garry to share our progress on delivering agentic AI solutions to drive long-term growth and why that makes us a critical part of the evolving AI ecosystem. For the year, we recorded double-digit year-on-year growth in normalized Adjusted EBITDA and generated positive pro forma free cash flow.

Sabre Payments was one of our fastest-growing businesses in 2025, with gross spend on the platform increasing more than 35% year-on-year and producing strong revenue growth. In the fourth quarter, air distribution bookings grew 4%, which included the direct and indirect impacts from the US government shutdown, and we ended the year with air bookings growth of 7% in December. Total distribution bookings grew 1% year-on-year, and full year air distribution bookings were also positive. Hotel distribution bookings increased 5% year-on-year to 42 million, and the attachment rate to air bookings increased over 130 basis points year-on-year.

What went well
  • Fourth-quarter normalized adjusted EBITDA grew 10% year-on-year to $119 million with margin up 107 basis points to 18%, and full-year normalized adjusted EBITDA rose 10% to $536 million (margin up 166 bps to 19%) on revenue of $2.8 billion.
  • Sabre made major balance-sheet progress, paying off over $1 billion of debt in 2025, reducing pro forma net leverage roughly 25% versus year-end 2024, and completing two refinancings that leave no large maturities until 2029, ending the year with a strong $910 million cash balance.
  • Momentum built into year-end with December air distribution bookings up 7%, and NDC leadership expanded to 42 live integrations (about 4% of air bookings) with 15 added during the year; payments gross spend grew more than 35% year-on-year.
  • Fourth-quarter pro forma free cash flow was $116 million, up $45 million year-on-year, and management guided 2026 to mid-single-digit revenue growth with pro forma adjusted EBITDA of approximately $585 million.
What went wrong
  • Fourth-quarter air distribution bookings grew only 4%, below the 6%-8% guidance, as the U.S. government shutdown proved broader than expected, compounded by lower inbound U.S. traffic and increased flight cancellations.
  • Fourth-quarter gross margin of 58% declined year-on-year, driven primarily by revenue mix and FX impacts from a weaker U.S. dollar.
  • Sabre guided full-year 2026 free cash flow to negative $70 million, driven almost entirely by roughly $60 million of cash restructuring costs from its inflation offset program (a $51 million restructuring charge was recorded in Q4 2025), and flagged about $140 million higher 2026 cash interest as it loses the prior paid-in-kind interest benefit.
  • Amid a series of executive leadership changes, Chief Commercial Officer Roshan Mendis decided to leave the company, transitioning to senior advisor before departing in May.

More on Sabre Corp

Reported 2026-02-18 · figures from the Sabre Corp Q4 2025 earnings call.

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