American Express Global Business Travel (AmEx GBT) saw an increase in business travel for its multinational customers around the world in the first quarter.
Travel growth by these companies outpaced small and medium-sized business (SMB) travel growth for the first time since the recovery from the pandemic, the travel and expense B2B software and services company said in its quarterly results on Tuesday (May 7). Announced. Earnings calls.
In the first quarter, AmEx GBT reported 11% year-over-year growth in transaction growth for global multinational customers and 5% growth in small business transactions, according to a presentation released Tuesday in conjunction with the conference call. Did.
Amex GBT CEO Paul Abbott said in an earnings call: “Global multinationals are seeing very strong growth in some areas, particularly technology, with an increase of around 30% in the first quarter.'' “We saw an increase in same-store sales.” “We also saw double-digit growth in professional services, pharmaceuticals, mining, energy and utilities.”
Among the company's small and medium-sized customers, growth has slowed by 3 percentage points over the past two quarters due to a slowdown in same-store sales, Abbott said on the conference call.
“We believe this is being driven by higher interest costs and persistently higher inflation, resulting in stronger regulation.” [SMB] It’s an expense,” Abbott said during the call. “This is a broader trend in the United States.” [SMB] American Express is another customer we highlighted in our first quarter results. ”
Abbott said both American Express and AmEx GBT believe that rising inflation and persistently high prices are leading small businesses to tighten spending.
“We expect that to change as confidence improves, macroeconomic conditions improve and perhaps the inflation outlook becomes a little clearer,” Abbott said. “We will certainly still see [SMB] It will become the company's growth engine in the medium to long term. ”
Abbott said during the call that Amex GBT sees the small business segment as its biggest growth opportunity, as 70% of small businesses are not currently participating in managed travel programs.
“As our progress clearly shows, increasingly [SMB] “Customers recognize the value of our cutting-edge software and services and professionally managed travel programs,” said Abbott. “as a result, [SMB] Total new acquisitions in the past 12 months reached $2 billion. ”
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