American Express hails 'record' revenues, shares spark

American Express forecast better-than-expected 2024 earnings on Friday, as its posted record full-year revenues.

The US firm, which has a more affluent customer base than many other credit card providers, reported revenues of $60.52bn for 2023, a 14% increase or 15% once adjusted for forex.

Billed business - which represents the transaction value on Amex cards - rose 9% to $1.46trn.

Net income improved by 11% at $8.37bn, while diluted earnings per share rose 14% to $11.21.

Amex did, however, raise its loan loss provisions in the fourth quarter, to $1.44bn from $1.03bn a year earlier.

Borrowing has become more expensive in the US as the Federal Reserve, in common with many other central banks, hiked interest rates.

Stephen Squeri, chief executive, said: "We delivered record revenues and profits in 2023.

"We continued to drive strong customer engagement and demand for our premium products remained robust.

"Since January 2022, we’ve grown revenues by more that 40% and card member spending has increased by 37% to $1.5trn, an all-time high.

"These strong results demonstrate the strength of our premium customer base and the tremendous earnings power of our business model."

Amex is now forecasting revenue growth for the current year of between 9% and 11%, and EPS between $12.65 and $13.15. Analysts had forecast 2024 EPS of $12.41, according to Reuters.

Shares in the Wall Street-listed firm jumped as trading got underway, and were up 7% by 1445 GMT.