American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) has seen global multinational customers grow i know business trip during the first quarter.
Travel growth from these companies outpaced that of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) for the first time since the pandemic recovery, the B2B software and services company for travel and expenses said on Tuesday (May 7 ) during their quarter. gain call
During the first quarter, Amex GBT saw its global multinational customer transaction growth increase 11% year over year while that of SMBs pink 5%, according to a presentation released Tuesday in conjunction with the call.
“In the global multinational, we saw a very positive growth of sales in the same store in many sectors, especially in technology, about 30% in the first quarter”, Amex GBT CEO. Paul Abbott he said during the earnings call. “We also saw double-digit growth in professional services, pharma, mining, energy and utilities.”
Among the company’s SMB customers, growth slowed by three percentage points over the past two quarters, driven by slower same-store sales, Abbott said during the call.
“We believe this is driven by higher interest costs and sustained higher inflation, resulting in stronger controls [SMB] expenses,” Abbot said during the call. “This is a broader trend with the United States [SMB] customers that American Express also highlighted in its Q1 results.”
Both American Express and Amex GBT see higher inflation and sustained higher prices leading SMEs to tighten their spending.Abbott said.
“I think as confidence improves, as macroeconomic conditions improve, perhaps as the outlook for inflation becomes a little clearer, we to do expect that to change,” Abbott said. “Of course we’ll still see [SMB] in the medium and long term it is a growth engine for the company”.
In the future, Amex GBT sees the SMB segment as its own bigger growth opportunities, as 70% of SMEs are not currently in a managed travel program, Abbott said during the call.
“As our progress clearly shows, more and more [SMB] customers recognize the value of our leading software and services and a professionally managed travel program,” said Abbott. “As a result, [SMB] the new wins in the last 12 months totaled $2 billion.”
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