Amex, Cendant, Sabre Report 1Q Earnings

American Express Travel Related Services today reported first-quarter net income of $467 million, down 11 percent from $522 million a year earlier, on flat revenues of about $4.4 billion. In a statement, Amex cited "declines in travel commissions and fees, discount revenue and other revenue, reflecting weaker economic conditions compared to a year ago. The decline in discount revenue reflected lower corporate card spending in the travel and entertainment sector, which was partially offset by higher consumer spending in the retail and everyday categories."

At Sabre, revenues were $539 million, down 6 percent from a year earlier, and net earnings were $84 million, a decline of 1.1 percent. Global travel bookings dropped 13.8 percent year over year. Bookings within the United States dropped 17.8 percent, while international bookings declined 8.1 percent. Revenue for the second quarter is expected to decline between 3 percent and 8 percent year over year, said Sabre. Total 2002 global booking levels are expected to be down by about 7 percent. The company predicted that 2002 revenues will grow in the range of 1 percent to 5 percent, year over year.

First-quarter revenues from the GetThere subsidiary were $12 million, a 7.4 percent increase from $11 million in the year-ago quarter. GetThere enjoyed corporate revenue growth of more than 93 percent. Corporate adoption rates now average 14 percent, up from about 56 percent from the same period last year.

Cendant Corp., meanwhile, reported record first-quarter 2002 net income of $342 million. Revenues in its hospitality division rose 68 percent year over year, to $403 million, while its travel distribution division that includes the Galileo International global distribution system pulled in revenues of $444 million. "While the terrorist incidents of Sept. 11 caused a significant decrease in the demand for travel-related services and, accordingly, reduced the booking volumes of Galileo and our travel agency businesses during the third and fourth quarters of 2001, travel bookings improved during the first quarter of 2002," noted a Cendant statement.