American Express Global Business Travel lowered earnings expectations for this year facing what CEO Paul Abbott called a "weaker but stable environment," though he said the TMC to date has not seen major adjustments to travel budgets or policies among most customers.
For the first quarter, Amex GBT reported total transaction value growth of 3 percent year over year to $8.3 billion, and revenue grew 2 percent year over year to $621 million. In an earnings call, Abbott said transaction growth among global multinational customers was up 6 percent year over year in the quarter, while small and midsized customers' transactions were up 2 percent.
With a "more uncertain economic environment," Amex GBT lowered guidance for revenue and earnings for the full year. The company now projects its 2025 revenue will be in the range of 2 percent below to 2 percent above 2024 levels, compared with projected 2025 growth in February of 3 percent to 5 percent. It lowered its EBITDA growth range to flat to up 13 percent, compared with the previous range of an increase of 11 to 17 percent.
Flight Centre Travel Group last week also issued an update reducing its growth expectations for its 2025 fiscal year, which runs through June 30.
Amex GBT CFO Karen Williams during the earnings call said that transaction growth for March and April—the two months grouped together to account for the different timing of Easter year over year—currently is trending flat year over year. "This is down roughly 5 percentage points versus our expectations coming into the year, but we are not seeing any further signs of deterioration," she said.
Williams said the top five industry verticals for global multinationals, which together make up 70 percent of total global multinational transaction, were flat or up in transactions year over year in recent months. Throughout the first quarter, the financial services and tech sector had double-digit percentage growth in transactions, while sectors more vulnerable to tariff policies, such as consumer and automotive, had slowdowns, Abbott said.
Even so, Abbott said a survey of its top 100 global multinationals showed only 6 percent had put new budget restrictions in place since the April 2 tariff announcement.
"Looking at the overall picture … customers are in wait-and-see mode," Abbott said. "They are not overreacting to the situation."
Abbott also noted that meeting and event trends are showing stability. Amex GBT reported a 2 percent year-over-year increase in the number of meetings for the year so far and an 8 percent increase in spending for meetings and events. The cancellation rate is flat with last year, he said.
Amex GBT reported a net income of $75 million for the first quarter, compared with a loss of $19 million in the first quarter of 2024.
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