American Express: 'Softer' airline, lodging Q2 spend by corporate customers
T&E spending by Amex commercial customers increased 1% in Q2, compared with a 2% increase in the first quarter. Commercial customer spending on goods and services was up 3% in the quarter, and total spending was up 2% -- the same rate as the first quarter, although that quarter also was skewed by about a percentage point due to the extra day in the 2024 leap year.
In its earnings call, American Express CFO Christophe Le Caillec said the slower T&E growth was "driven by softer airline and lodging spend, while restaurant spending continued to be very strong, up 8%."
Spending by U.S. large and global corporate clients, inclusive of T&E and goods and services, increased 4% year in the second quarter. Spending by small and midsized clients increased 2%, Amex reported.
Total spending, inclusive of T&E and goods and services, by Amex business clients outside of the U.S. increased 12% in the second quarter. Total international T&E spending, which includes both consumer and commercial clients, was up 8%.
This report originally appeared in Business Travel News, a sister publication to Travel Weekly.
American Express reported total revenue of $17.9 billion in the second quarter, up 9%. Net income for the quarter was $2.9 billion, down slightly from $3 billion in Q2 2024. American Express' consolidated expenses increased 14%.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Firefly Aerospace to price US IPO as it sets sights on a positive liftoff
By Pritam Biswas and Arasu Kannagi Basil (Reuters) -Northrop Grumman-backed Firefly Aerospace, the buzzy space technology startup that put a lander on the moon, is set to price its U.S. IPO later on Wednesday. In a nascent but rapidly growing commercial space industry, Firefly's IPO has attracted investor attention because it successfully landed its uncrewed Blue Ghost spacecraft on the moon in its first attempt in March. Cedar Park, Texas-based Firefly Aerospace is set to sell 16.2 million shares of its stock, priced between $41 and $43 apiece. This range was raised earlier this week, signaling strong demand. U.S. President Donald Trump's focus on commercializing space technology and safeguarding the national interests in space has attracted venture capital firms and billionaires. Elon Musk's SpaceX — the most valuable private company in the world — has become a critical part of the U.S. satellite network, even prompting a need across the government to look for more contractors. The U.S. government is betting that diversifying its contractor base will foster innovation and cut the huge costs of sending rockets to space, as well as reduce over-reliance on a single provider for critical missions. NASA's procurement process now includes new entrants such as Firefly Aerospace and Sierra Space, alongside legacy companies, leveraging commercial partnerships for lunar landers, space station modules and cargo deliveries. While space-related IPOs have been scarce in recent years, the tide is starting to turn in 2025. Firefly's listing comes on the heels of the successful New York flotations of space and defense firms Karman, AIRO Group and Voyager. As of Tuesday's close, shares of Karman have more than doubled from their offer price, while Voyager has gained 10%. "Given Firefly and the success of Voyager, I think you are going to see several more space-related companies test the waters of a public offering," said Ross Carmel, partner at law firm Sichenzia Ross Ference Carmel. TO THE MOON Formed in 2017, Firefly designs and manufactures small- to medium-lift launch vehicles, lunar landers and orbital vehicles. It had a backlog of roughly $1.1 billion and over 30 planned launches under contract as of March 31. While Houston-based Intuitive Machines' Odysseus lander was the first private lander to reach the moon last year, it made a lopsided touchdown, landing mostly intact but dooming many of its onboard instruments. Firefly's was the second, but its Blue Ghost spacecraft landed safely, reaching the moon's surface a month and a half after launching atop a SpaceX rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Last month, Firefly secured a $176.7 million contract to deliver five NASA payloads to the Moon's South Pole in 2029. Firefly was valued at more than $2 billion in a 2024 funding round. The company's backers include aerospace-focused private investment firm AE Industrial Partners. U.S. defense contractor Northrop Grumman, which invested $50 million into Firefly to aid the production of their jointly developed rocket, is one of three suppliers of solid rocket motors (SRMs) to the United States. Firefly is expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "FLY" on Thursday.
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Novo Nordisk Ramps Up U.S. Legal Fight Over Wegovy, Ozempic Copies
Novo Nordisk (NOVO, Financials) expanded its U.S. legal campaign against makers of unapproved versions of semaglutide the active ingredient in its blockbuster weight?loss and diabetes drugs Wegovy and Ozempic. The Danish drugmaker said Tuesday it filed 14 new lawsuits; the targets include telehealth providers, compounding pharmacies, and medical spas accused of selling compounded semaglutide under the fake guise of personalization. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 1 Warning Sign with NVO. The suits name firms such as Prism Aesthetics, Mochi Health, and Fella Health; some have also appeared in Eli Lilly's (LLY, Financials) litigation over knockoff versions of its weight?loss drug Zepbound. Novo claims the defendants are steering patients toward compounded semaglutide that has not been approved by regulators; in some cases, the products allegedly contain illicit foreign?sourced active pharmaceutical ingredients. Compounders were temporarily allowed to produce semaglutide during a declared shortage; when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ended that allowance, some companies shifted to offering personalized versions outside the approved drug label. Novo argues the approach violates state laws on corporate practice of medicine; it also raises safety concerns, as the copies have not been proven effective. Industry groups pushed back; Scott Brunner, CEO of the Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding, said Novo's claims misrepresent the work of legitimate, state?licensed pharmacies. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Capri Shows Signs of Stabilization, CEO John Idol Plans to Keep Jimmy Choo
Updated at 5:25 p.m. ET Aug. 6 The declines are slowing at Capri Holdings — but there's still plenty of work to do before the Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo parent gets its stride back. More from WWD Rihanna's Maternity Shoe Style Gets a Wild Update With Python Heels by Jimmy Choo Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Versace, Jil Sander Debuts Headline Packed Milan Fashion Week Spring 2026 Schedule Jenna Ortega Makes Metallic Jimmy Choo Sandals Her Red Carpet Staple at 'Wednesday' Premiere At least the company is on a better trajectory and chief executive officer John Idol was able to say that 'trends improved sequentially' in the first quarter. Investors liked what they saw and sent shares of the company up 14.5 percent to $20.84 on Wednesday, leaving the company with a market capitalization of $2.5 billion. Capri is still a long way off from the $57 per share Tapestry Inc. once agreed to pay for the company, but at least the firm is out of the doldrums it was in before antitrust regulators blocked the deal. Now the company has a $1.4 billion agreement to sell Versace to Prada, which will let Capri take a big bite out of its $1.7 billion debt load and help fuel a branded turnaround. 'While still early, we are beginning to see signs that our strategies are working,' Idol told analysts on a conference call. 'Although the global macroeconomic environment remains dynamic, we are on track to stabilize our business this year while establishing a strong foundation for a return to growth in fiscal '27.' And Idol maintained that the company — which took its name from the island of Capri, its three rock formation symbolically tied to the group's three founder-led brands — would carry on with the two brands. 'Jimmy Choo is not for sale,' Idol said. 'We do not have an intent on selling Jimmy Choo.' But the firm does have plans to ramp Michael Kors sales up to $4 billion in annual revenues, from $3 billion last year, and Jimmy Choo up to $800 million from $605 million 'over time.' First the company has to get back to growth. Capri's first-quarter net income rose to $56 million from $5 million a year earlier, with adjusted profits up to $60 million from $18 million. Adjusted earnings per share tallied 50 cents — much better than the 12 cents analysts had penciled in, according to Yahoo Finance. Revenues for the three months ended June 28 slipped 6 percent to $797 million. That included results from Michael Kors, where sales were down 5.9 percent, and Jimmy Choo, which was off 6.4 percent. The Versace business was not included as it is being categorized as a discontinued operation. Although the company hyped its sequential improvement — and Idol got plenty of kudos for it from analysts on the conference call — it was a relatively low bar as fourth-quarter adjusted losses totaled $581 million with a 15.4 percent decline in sales. But there was some progress there to celebrate. 'In our retail channel, we are starting to see encouraging signs of momentum,' Idol said, pointing to both better traffic trends in the full-price stores, more full-price sell throughs on new styles and a positive turn in the average unit retail prices. 'We view these as early but meaningful indicators that our strategies are gaining traction,' Idol said. Michael Kors has exited 30 percent of its U.S. department stores over the past year and is on track to close 75 underproductive stores of its own this year. Idol said the Michael Kors full price channel would be the first part of the brand to turn around. 'We're getting close to that right now,' he said. 'That's a very good indicator, as you know. If you've got the full price channel working, that's an area where you can really kind of solidify the rest of the company. 'We moved very quickly last October, November around the full price,' the CEO said. 'It was making sure that we got different product to the floor more quickly. We took a very focused approach to our strategic pricing architecture and that is absolutely paying off.' The brand is also going to start selling some of its full-price looks in its outlet channel with a program called Icons, which mirrors what other brands have done. Capri also plans to spend $350 million on store renovations over the next three years and to start to see what Idol said would be 'very nice returns on the $100-plus million that we spent over the last couple of years on our data analytics and replatforming our e-commerce areas.' While sources have said that Capri tried to sell Jimmy Choo this year and that there have been interested parties, including the brand's co-founder Tamara Mellon, Idol was clear he planned to hold onto the brand. 'We're excited about the growth opportunity that Jimmy Choo represents for the company,' he said. 'When we bought Jimmy Choo many years ago, one of the reasons we bought it is because it has an incredible name and history and heritage with the fashion luxury consumer. It's highly recognized. And it is in the shoe business, and we thought we would actually learn a lot from them, which we have. 'Over the years, I'm not sure this has been clear, but we've actually bought two manufacturing facilities,' Idol said. 'So we produce over 50 percent of our own product in-house. We are truly vertical with Jimmy Choo's two beautiful factories that we have in Italy… Store fleet is in excellent shape. We spent a lot of money over the years renovating the stores… And so the investments we've made, now we can leverage.' Best of WWD Harvey Nichols Sees Sales Dip, Losses Widen in Year Marred by Closures Nike Logs $1.3 Billion Profit, But Supply Chain Issues Persist Zegna Shares Start Trading on New York Stock Exchange Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
