Amex, Navigant Report Corp. Travel Upturn At End Of Quarter

Improvements in corporate T&E spending beginning last month prompted American Express and Navigant International to express cautious optimism as they announced second-quarter financial results yesterday and today, respectively.

According to Navigant, transaction levels toward the end of June were "almost flat," compared with the same period last year, while the three-month period ending June 30 as a whole was down 10 percent. Navigant officials upped their earnings expectations for the current quarter and were hopeful that 2003 transactions would turn out to be down 3 percent to 5 percent from last year.

"The corporate travel industry is making a gradual recovery from its spring 2003 low," said Navigant CFO and COO Bob Griffith. "We're seeing a slow, but hopefully sustainable, uptick." He noted that September is the crucial month for the third quarter. Navigant earned $3.8 million for the quarter ending in June on revenues of $85.6 million, down 46 percent and 12 percent, respectively.

Amex's Travel Related Services division turned in 12 percent higher year-over-year earnings of $634 million--an all-time second-quarter high--on 6 percent higher revenues. "While it's difficult to get too excited about the quarter's T&E-related spending, we have recently begun to see an improving trend," said Amex CFO Gary Crittenden. "There was slight improvement in the corporate business as we came through the quarter and exited with more momentum there than we started the quarter with. This is the first real time we're seeing encouraging signs of improvement, but there still are macroeconomic factors that are mixed."