AmEx posts lower-than-expected first-quarter revenue

[April 18, 2019]   (Reuters) - Credit card issuer American Express Co's quarterly revenue missed analysts' estimates on Thursday, due to muted growth in its global merchant and network services unit.

 An American Express credit card is seen on a computer keyboard in this picture illustration taken September 6, 2017. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/Illustration

Shares of AmEx were down 1.2 percent in premarket trading.

Revenue growth in the unit, which operates a global payments network for processing and settling card transactions, remained flat at $1.6 billion compared to a year ago.

Total revenue, excluding interest expense, rose 7 percent to $10.36 billion, missing analysts' estimates of $10.5 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. AmEx missed revenue estimates for a second straight quarter.

Meanwhile, net income fell to $1.55 billion, or $1.80 per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $1.63 billion, or $1.86 per share, a year earlier https://reut.rs/2VQDifq.

The New York-based company, which has been bolstering its rewards program, said its total expenses in the quarter was $7.6 billion, up 11 percent from a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned $2.01 per share, ahead of analysts' expectations of a profit of $1.99 per share.

(Reporting by Bharath Manjesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)

[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.