By Mauro Orru
Worldline, the French payments company, saw its shares plummet over 50% on Wednesday following the release of its third-quarter revenue report. The company reported revenue below analysts’ expectations and lowered its guidance for the year, citing challenging macroeconomic conditions.
As of 0820 GMT, Worldline shares were trading at EUR9.90, down 57% from the previous day’s close.
Despite organic growth of 4.8% year on year, with revenue reaching 1.18 billion euros ($1.25 billion), the company fell short of Citigroup’s forecast of EUR1.22 billion. The main contributor to this growth was Worldline’s core merchant services business. Jefferies analysts noted that the decline in Worldline’s performance was largely attributed to the macroeconomic slowdown in Germany, the company’s largest end-market. While revenue at the merchant services unit saw a 7.6% organic increase to EUR868 million, it missed Jefferies’s forecast of EUR887 million.
Worldline CEO Gilles Grapinet acknowledged the deteriorating macro environment, particularly in Germany, despite the satisfactory progress made in merchant services. Grapinet stated, “After a solid start to the year, we are now facing a second semester marked by a deteriorating macro environment, especially in Germany.”
Given these circumstances, Worldline has revised its outlook for the year. The company now expects organic revenue growth of 6% to 7%, down from the previous range of 8% to 10%. Additionally, Worldline anticipates that its operating margin before depreciation and amortization will remain stable in absolute value or decline by approximately 150 basis points compared to 2022. This is a significant departure from their earlier projection of an improvement of over 100 basis points.