Fundamental Business is Very Strong- Darren Huston

1
Darren Huston- Fundamental Business is Very
Strong
Darren Huston
We're really proud of the third quarter we
exceeded expectations across the board are still
high, 20 percent growth on the top line. And the
bottom line, she was the biggest quarter in the
Priceline Group's history. It's our biggest
quarter during the year. And as we guided
towards Q4, probably the biggest issue we have is
the euro exchange rate. That's not something we
can control. It will go up and down. But it's
important that people know that most of our money
is earned overseas and the dollar in particular
has been very strong. But also, we wanted to be
prudent in the way that we look at the upcoming
season, as we always are each quarter. And that's
part of how we'd like to keep a track record of
over delivering to investors. And this was
another one of those quarters.
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Simon
Darren, you seem to have the analysts with you
that the structural growth story of the business
is intact. It's just those external forces. But
then if you read what the CFO, Euille CFO
actually said on the conference call, he said,
given that you the largest player in online
travel quote, we look at it as the law of large
numbers. So generally we expect the business to
decelerate given the size of it. That would
suggest that you have a more fundamental problem
that you need to tackle.
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Darren Huston
Yeah No, I don't think so at all, Simon. The
business is fundamentally very sound. I mean,
we'll do over 50 billion dollars in transactions
this year. And if it is growing at the speed that
we're growing, its amazing and
phenomenal. We're always fighting the law of
large numbers. I mean, we grew more on an
absolute basis this year than any year in the
history of the company. And next year will be
another one of that kind of year.
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So that's the law of large numbers is really just
we're getting bigger. But the fundamental
business is very strong and we continue to
produce both the top and bottom line and are very
proud of that. Every market we're in, we're
taking market share across the board. All of the
six businesses in the Priceline Group are growing
successful. They're becoming big brands each in
their own right. And we couldn't be happier
about where we are today.