Nexi, the Italian payments company, experienced a significant boost in its shares on Thursday as it exceeded analysts’ expectations with its third-quarter earnings. The growth was primarily driven by its core merchant-solutions business.
At 0835 GMT, Nexi shares were up 6.8% and trading at EUR6.40.
During the three months ending in September, Nexi reported a revenue of 871.7 million euros ($933.7 million), marking a 5% increase compared to the previous year. Notably, the merchant-solutions division saw a 5.6% growth, reaching EUR504.3 million in revenue.
The company also witnessed a remarkable 7.6% revenue rise in Germany, despite macroeconomic weaknesses and a challenging comparison to last year’s numbers, particularly in August.
Nexi’s positive results contrast with recent comments made by French peer Worldline, which warned of a slowdown in the German market. Worldline stated that consumers were increasingly prioritizing essential expenses such as housing and food over discretionary expenses like entertainment or luxury goods. Following Nexi’s earnings announcement, Worldline shares increased by 3.5% in early morning trading.
Nexi’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), a key measure of profitability, saw an 8% increase to EUR495.8 million. Meanwhile, total costs rose slightly from EUR370.9 million to EUR375.9 million.
Based on estimates from 11 analysts, consensus forecasts predicted revenue of EUR871 million, merchant-solutions revenue of EUR507 million, EBITDA of EUR491 million, and total costs of EUR381 million. Nexi’s actual results were generally in line with these expectations.
Despite potential concerns regarding broader macroeconomic issues, Citi analysts described Nexi’s results as positive and stated, “we see this as a positive set of results.”
Looking ahead, Nexi maintains its outlook of achieving over 7% year-on-year net revenue growth and EBITDA growth of more than 10% for the year.