Carlson Wagonlit Travel has reported solid financial results for 2015 despite a continued challenging economic climate.

CWT increased its new business sales to US$1.7 billion, while transactions were stable at 61.4 million.

Overall sales volume reached US$24.2 billion, reflecting the significant curtailment in travel expenses by energy customers.

Excluding the impact of the energy portfolio, transactions increased by 1.3 per cent.

North American transactions increased by 1.1 per cent.

Transactions in Europe, Middle East and Africa declined by 1.2 per cent while Latin America volume was off 7.8 per cent due to the weight of the energy sector and the economic recession in Brazil.

Asia Pacific volumes were stable.

CWT maintained its strong client satisfaction scores with travel manager satisfaction of 90 per cent, combined with an 88 per cent traveller satisfaction rating and a 94 per cent retention rate.

Douglas Anderson, president of CWT, commented: “Last year was a challenging year for the industry overall given the continued sharp fall in energy prices and oil in particular.

“We nevertheless delivered solid results.

“We continued to focus on enhancing our technology offering, with the deployment of mobile hotel booking on CWT To Go and the global launch of CWT AnalytIQs, a powerful tool to report and manage travel data.

“Finally, we strengthened our growth platform in France with the acquisition of Ormès, a leader in meetings and events, and the sale of our leisure business Havas Voyages.”