American Express Global Business Travel saw transaction volumes and revenue rise by 4 per cent during the first quarter of 2025 ¨C largely driven by global and multinational clients, as well as winning new customers.

But the leading global TMC has trimmed its revenue and earnings forecast for the whole of 2025 due to 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 new 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 first quarter, we delivered on our commitments, with strong profit growth, margin expansion and cash generation,¡± he added. ¡°Investments in our software and services are driving share gains and productivity improvements. Our strong and flexible 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 can control¡± due to 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 not just on what they are spending on travel.

Chief financial officer Karen Williams said that the macroeconomic environment was ¡°softer than expected coming into the year¡±, which had led to ¡°slower organic travel growth¡±.

She stressed that there was ¡°no direct impact¡± from tariffs imposed by President Trump¡¯s administration in the US, but slower economic growth was leading to transaction growth ¡°trending flat year-over-year¡± in 2025.

As a result of these global economic trends, Amex GBT is now expecting to achieve revenue of between $2.38 billion-$2.48 billion this year ¨C down from the previous estimate in March of $2.5 billion¨C$2.55 billion.

Meanwhile adjusted EBITDA in 2025 is currently forecast to be in the range of $480 million-$540 million, compared with previous guidance of $530 million-$560 million.

Amex GBT revealed that transaction growth was stronger in the EMEA and APAC regions, which rose by 4 per cent and 7 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 both saw double-digit growth year-on-year, while there were declines in sectors ¡°more exposed to tariffs¡±, such as consumer and automotive.

He added that only 6 per cent of the TMC¡¯s top 100 clients had so far made changes to their travel policies, approval processes or cut budgets in reaction to the current economic outlook.

¡°The vast majority are in wait-and-see mode ¨C they are not over-reacting,¡± said Abbott. ¡°We are not measuring sentiment but what people are actually doing. There¡¯s been only a very moderate change in what they are 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.