Amadeus IT Holding, S.A. and Subsidiaries - Investor relations at ...

AMADEUS IT HOLDING, S.A. AND SUBSIDIARIES
NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED ANNUAL ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEARS ENDED
DECEMBER 31, 2011, AND 2010
(EXPRESSED IN THOUSANDS OF EUROS - KEUR)
With regard to the dividend policy, the Company’s intention is to target a total
dividend payout amounting to approximately 30% to 40% of the net income for a
given financial year. The amount of future dividends the Company decides to pay, if
any, and the future dividend policy will however depend on a number of factors,
including earnings, financial condition, debt service obligations, cash requirements,
prospects or market conditions. The amount of dividends is proposed by the Board of
Directors and determined by the shareholders at General Shareholders' Meetings.
6. SEGMENT REPORTING
The segment information has been prepared in accordance with the “management
approach”, which requires presentation of the segments on the basis of the internal
reports about components of the entity which are regularly reviewed by the chief
operating decision maker in order to allocate resources to a segment and to assess
its performance.
The Group is organized into two operating segments:
(i) Distribution; and
(ii) IT Solutions
Over the past decade, Amadeus has evolved the core GDS offering into two highly
synergetic businesses, Distribution and IT Solutions, through which the Group
principally generates revenue by charging customers fees on a per transaction basis.
Both businesses, although closely related, have different strategic objectives and
offer to the customer different products and services. Our operating segments are
referred to internally as business areas.
During the year 2010 the Group disposed of the companies Vacation.com (V.com)
and certain other companies and assets related to the hospitality business. These
operations were classified under the Distribution and IT solutions segments
respectively (see note 14).
Distribution
The core offering of our Distribution operating segment is our GDS platform. It
provides a worldwide network that connects travel providers, such as full service and
low cost airlines, hotels, rail operators, cruise and ferry operators, car rental
companies, tour operators and insurance companies, with online and offline travel
agencies, facilitating the distribution of travel products and services through a digital
marketplace.
IT Solutions
Through our IT Solutions operating segment we provide a comprehensive portfolio of
technology solutions that automate certain mission-critical business processes, such
as reservations, inventory management and operations, for travel providers. The
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