Serko

Serko Limited, known as Serko, is a travel management and expense technology company headquartered in New Zealand.[1]

Serko Limited
TypePublic company
NZX: SKO ASX: SKO
Founded31 December 2007 (2007-12-31)
HeadquartersSaatchi Building, Parnell,
Auckland
,
New Zealand
Key people
  • Darrin Grafton (CEO)
  • Charlie Nowaczek (COO)
Revenue$12,400,000 NZD
Number of employees
293
Websiteserko.com

Serko publicly listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange in June 2014 and in the Australian Stock Exchange in 2018 under the ticker code SKO.[2] In October 2019, Booking Holdings purchased 4.7% as part of a partnership deal.[3] In 2020 Serko won the New Zealand High-Tech Awards, winning company of the year.[4]

History

Serko was founded in 2007 by Darrin Grafton and Robert Shaw, based on a previous business idea. In 2012 Serko received a $2.3 million NZD grant from Callaghan Innovation,[5] the R&D investment arm of the New Zealand Government, and commenced an international expansion, opening a development office in Xi'an, China. Serko subsequently listed on the New Zealand Stock Market in 2014. With the new capital raising, Serko purchased Incharge, an expense provider in 2014, and Arnold Travel Technology in 2015 from Expedia Group.[6] In 2018 Serko launched into the North America market and purchased InterplX in 2019.[7] In 2019, Booking Holdings purchased 4.7% of Serko through a capital raising of $17.5 million NZD, as part of its Booking for Business expansion plans[8]

COVID-19 challenges

Serko was one of the first NZX-listed companies to issue a COVID-19 pandemic related profit warning in February 2020, well before other key market players and other travel technology companies, causing a 13% drop in their share price immediately following the warning.[9] In the following months Serko announced its worst annual performance in company history with a net loss of $29.4m and revenue halving to $12.4m.[10] Due to the uncertainty, the company conducted a capital raising of $55 million on the market[11] which was oversubscribed. Following a government response to COVID-19 which created normal domestic conditions in New Zealand and the establishment of the Trans-Tasman bubble, Serko returned to pre-covid transaction levels in March 2021,[12] and issued guidance to the market in May 2021 that it expects to make complete recovery by March 2023.[13]

Partnerships

Serko's main partnerships are with the Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) and Booking Holdings. Serko provides FCTG with a unique corporate online booking tool marketed as SAVI as part of the arrangement. In terms of Booking.com, a revenue sharing agreement is in place whereby Serko provides the underlying technology for Booking for Business, and Booking Holdings owns 4.7% of Serko and provides travel technology expertise.[14]

Serko's other main partnership is with Carlson Wagonlit Travel, enabling Serko to expand into the North American marketplace and enabling Carlson Wagonlit Travel to retain market share win the Australia and New Zealand market.[15]

The company was also the first travel technology company to partner with Southwest Airlines and Qantas to provide their airfares on the newly developed NDC Exchange. [16]

See also

References
  1. "SKO Serko Limited Ordinary Shares – NZX, New Zealand's Exchange". www.nzx.com.
  2. "Serko Lists on NZX Main Board – NZX, New Zealand's Exchange". www.nzx.com.
  3. "US giant Booking.com buys into NZ's Serko". NZ Herald.
  4. "Winners". NZ Hi-Tech Awards.
  5. "SERKO RESEARCH GRANT – ASIA PACIFIC REGION AND AMERICA". Callaghan Innovation. 3 November 2016.
  6. O'Neill, Rob. "Expedia's Wotif Group sells Arnold Travel Technology to Serko". ZDNet.
  7. Marketing, InterplX (19 December 2018). "Serko acquires InterplX as part of global growth strategy".
  8. "Booking.com parent takes stake in Serko". Australian Financial Review. 23 October 2019.
  9. "Serko shares thumped after coronavirus warning". NZ Herald.
  10. "Travel software firm Serko suffers sharp losses amid pandemic disruption". RNZ. 19 May 2021.
  11. "Serko in trading halt as it seeks $55m capital raise". NBR. 1 October 2020.
  12. "Travel specialist Serko says transactions nearing pre-Covid levels". NZ Herald.
  13. "Serko expects 'full recovery' in NZ, Australia travel market in the year to March 2023". Stuff. 19 May 2021.
  14. "Expense Manager Serko Accelerates Global Expansion With Booking.com Partnership". Skift. 20 November 2019.
  15. "CWT-Serko Reseller Agreement Expands to U.S. & Canada & Adds RoomIt". www.businesstravelnews.com.
  16. "Southwest Airlines selects Serko as NDC partner". www.businesstravelnewseurope.com.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.