Amex GBT Aims for $155 Million in Savings From CWT Merger

Skift

3 days ago

The stock market liked the optimistic story that Amex GBT was telling about the CWT acquisition and margin expansion.
Large mergers can be messy affairs, but Global Business Travel Group officials are focused on cost savings now that the merger with CWT is slated to close soon.
'We expect to deliver approximately $155 million in identified net synergies and have a proven track record of integrating large acquisitions and achieving our synergy targets,' Paul Abbott, the CEO of Amex GBT, said during the second-quarter earnings call. Those savings would be over a three-year period.
The merger of the #1 (Amex GBT) and #4 (CWT) largest global players in business travel is on track to close before the end of September now that the U.S. Department of Justice dismissed its own lawsuit against the merger.
Abbott said that 'given the recent clarity on CWT,' it plans to initiate additional share repurchases in the next few months.
The CEO said he can't comment on CWT's financial performance but will do so in November during the next quarterly presentation.
'Our commercial success, margin expansion and improved demand environment give us confidence to raise and narrow our full-year 2025 guidance,' Abbott said.
Customer Wins
The commercial success was a reference to market share gains and $3.2 billion in new customer wins over the past year. Some $2.2 billion of those wins were of small- and medium-sized businesses, a segment that has been traditionally hard to capture.
Amex GBT's adjusted EBITDA increased 4% in the second quarter. Revenue rose 1% to $631 million.
After macro uncertainty saw corporate travel demand dip modestly in April, transactions grew a combined 2% in May and June. 'We continue to see green shoots into July that give us confidence that the demand environment has improved,' Abbott said.