American Express Global Business Travel saw transaction volumes and revenue rise by 4 per cent through the first quarter of 2025 – largely driven by global and multinational clients, in addition to winning latest customers.
But the leading global TMC has trimmed its revenue and earnings forecast for the entire of 2025 on account of increased “economic uncertainty” in recent months, with growth in organic transaction levels now “trending flat” year-on-year.
The company said it was boosted by winning $3.2 billion in business from latest clients, including $2.3 billion from SME customers over the past 12 months. Meanwhile Amex GBT’s customer retention rate was 96 per cent.
Paul Abbott, Amex GBT’s CEO, said the TMC had benefited from its “diverse, resilient business model”, alongside “very high” customer retention and “consistent share gains”.
“In the primary quarter, we delivered on our commitments, with strong profit growth, margin expansion and money generation,” he added. “Investments in our software and services are driving share gains and productivity improvements. Our strong and versatile operating model positions us well to navigate through a more uncertain environment.”
During a conference call with investors, Abbott said the TMC was “laser-focused on what we will control” on account of the added economic uncertainty.
The TMC’s total transaction value (TTV) in Q1 rose by 3 per cent year-on-year to $8.35 billion, with revenue up by 4 per cent to $621 million when adjusted for the difference in working days and currency fluctuations compared with Q1 of 2024.
Abbott noted that transaction growth had been “relatively stronger” for global and multinational clients at 6 per cent in Q1, while the year-on-year increase for SME clients was only 2 per cent.
He added that SME clients had “tightened spending controls” across all activities in recent quarters and never just on what they’re spending on travel.
Chief financial officer Karen Williams said that the macroeconomic environment was “softer than expected coming into the yr”, which had led to “slower organic travel growth”.
She stressed that there was “no direct impact” from tariffs imposed by President Trump’s administration within the US, but slower economic growth was resulting in transaction growth “trending flat year-over-year” in 2025.
As a results of these global economic trends, Amex GBT is now expecting to attain revenue of between $2.38 billion-$2.48 billion this yr – down from the previous estimate in March of $2.5 billion–$2.55 billion.
Meanwhile adjusted EBITDA in 2025 is currently forecast to be within the range of $480 million-$540 million, compared with previous guidance of $530 million-$560 million.
Amex GBT revealed that transaction growth was stronger within the EMEA and APAC regions, which rose by 4 per cent and seven per cent respectively in Q1, with the Americas only seeing a 3 per cent year-on-year increase.
Abbott said the strongest performing sectors in Q1 had been financial services and tech, which each saw double-digit growth year-on-year, while there have been declines in sectors “more exposed to tariffs”, equivalent to consumer and automotive.
He added that only 6 per cent of the TMC’s top 100 clients had up to now made changes to their travel policies, approval processes or cut budgets in response to the present economic outlook.
“The overwhelming majority are in wait-and-see mode – they aren’t over-reacting,” said Abbott. “We aren’t measuring sentiment but what individuals are actually doing. There’s been only a really moderate change in what they’re doing.”
During Q1, Amex GBT said that 81 per cent of bookings had been made through digital channels, including 60 per cent through its own Neo and Egencia platforms. Overall digital transactions were up by 5 per cent year-on-year.
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