đľď¸ *Updated* Earnings - How Are Payments Companies Stacking Up?
(Added Shift4, Square, FIS and Global Payments)
Now that we have lapped into YoY earnings reports versus COVIDâs depths, comparing performance can be interesting. For context, TSG prepared a grid to show Q2 2021 YoY payments volume change versus other public payments companies. In addition, we have shown the market average, which is calculated from TSGâs AIM platform. Check it out â
Square Inc.âs acquisition of Afterpay Ltd. is expected to give Square a ready-made product in the hotly competitive buy now, pay later market that it can quickly plug into its consumer and merchant applications to make it an immediate force in BNPL. Square on Sunday announced it was acquiring Afterpay, which serves markets in New Zealand, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom (where it operates under the Clearpay brand) for $29 billion.
âThe acquisition is a way for Square to get a jump in a market that is becoming more competitive and crowded without having to build an application from scratch,â says Sheridan Trent, a research analyst for The Strawhecker Group. âThatâs an advantage for Square because Afterpay has a very loyal customer base.â
FISâ˘, a global leader in financial services technology, today reported its second quarter 2021 results. âFIS delivered an exceptional quarter,â said Gary Norcross, FIS chairman and chief executive officer. âOur transformation has created strong demand with our clients. Even as the world slowed, we continued to invest in our talent and our cloud-native solutions portfolio, creating a significant pipeline with our clients and prospects. With strong new sales and our largest revenue synergy quarter to-date, we are raising our guidance for the second time this year.â
âOur business accelerated meaningfully in the second quarter of 2021, demonstrating significant ongoing momentum," said Jeff Sloan, Chief Executive Officer of Global Payments. "We also continue to expand our competitive moat through leading strategic partnerships. First, we are excited to have agreed with our partners at CaixaBank to acquire Bankiaâs payments businesses in Spain, enhancing our position in one of the most attractive markets in Europe. Second, we are delighted to announce that we have entered into a new collaboration with Amazon Web Services for unique distribution and cutting edge technologies at Netspend."
Some U.S. senators introduced an amendment to the infrastructure bill Wednesday attempting to clear up confusion about cryptocurrency âbrokers,â based on language in the existing version that could roil the crypto markets if passed. The update, filed by Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Pat Toomey, R-Pa.; and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo. would specifically ensure the term âbrokerâ excludes validators, hardware and software makers and protocol developers. If included in the final bill, the amendment would be a win for the crypto industry, whose advocates have said was at risk of losing innovators and investors interested in doing crypto business in the U.S.
How much is your palm print worth? If you ask Amazon, itâs about $10 in promotional credit if you enroll your palm prints in its checkout-free stores and link it to your Amazon account. Last year, Amazon introduced its new biometric palm print scanners, Amazon One, so customers can pay for goods in some stores by waving their palm prints over one of these scanners. By February, the company expanded its palm scanners to other Amazon grocery, book and 4-star stores across Seattle. Amazon has since expanded its biometric scanning technology to its stores across the U.S., including New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Texas.
Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard last Friday laid out a range of reasons for "urgency" around the issue of developing a U.S. central bank digital currency, including the fact that other countries such as China are moving ahead with their own. "The dollar is very dominant in international payments, and if you have the other major jurisdictions in the world with a digital currency, a CBDC (central bank digital currency)offering, and the U.S. doesn't have one, I just, I can't wrap my head around that," Brainard told the Aspen Institute Economic Strategy Group.
MoneyLion, an 8-year-old New York-based neobank, wants to become a destination for all of its customers' financial needs, including banking, lending and investing, but along the way it's grappling with regulatory concerns and challenges in differentiating its product from rivals. Its strategy resembles competing propositions from other fintechs, but founder and CEO Dee Choubey said what sets MoneyLion apart is its approach to serve customers across the financial needs spectrum, from times of "excess" â through banking, cash management and e-commerce features â to times of need, with offerings such as its cash advance product, as well as personal and credit-builder loans.
Petco will begin offering its customers a buy now, pay later (BNPL) option with the help of the Swedish BNPL company Klarna, the pet supply chain said on Thursday (Aug. 5). The new payment option lets pet parents split their purchases into four interest-free installments, paid off over the course of six weeks. Petco Chief Digital and Innovation Officer Darren MacDonald said the arrangement will let customers care for their pets, âwhether they're welcoming a new family member, caring for a pet's unique health needs or restocking on the basics."
BigCommerce, a leading Open SaaS ecommerce platform for fast-growing and established brands, announced fintech company Sezzle Inc. as a new preferred buy now, pay later (BNPL) partner. Small and mid-market BigCommerce merchants will now have the ability to offer interest-free payment plans that support smart, risk-free shopping for consumers, including high-risk borrowers and younger shoppers looking to build credit and buy with a purpose.
NCR Corporation, a leading enterprise technology provider, announced a definitive agreement to acquire LibertyX, a leading cryptocurrency software provider. âDue to growing consumer demand, our customers require a complete digital currency solution, including the ability to buy and sell cryptocurrency, conduct cross-border remittance and accept digital currency payments across digital and physical channels,â said Tim Vanderham, Chief Technology Officer, NCR Corporation.
May require account to read. Managing cash flow is one of the biggest struggles that small businesses face. Entrepreneurs often rely on a patchwork of spreadsheets, scanning bank balances and mental math to track how much money is coming in and going out. First National Bank of Omaha is piloting software that will automate these processes, from crunching historical data to forecasting cash flow patterns for weeks into the future. The tool, Cash Flow Control, was created by Centime, a software company in Boston that worked in concert with the $25 billion-asset FNBO to develop the product.
tâs true: For some, 2020 was a decidedly good year. Thatâs especially the case for smaller startups and companies with venture capital funding that were able to break through with explosive expansion. But considering the year everyone else had, would it be a surprise that Wine.com might top the list of U.S. sales growth? âWine, generally speaking, is an emotional purchase,â says David Marcotte, senior vice president for Kantar. âPeople want to look at it, engage with it or collect it.â
Foot Locker is looking to grow its footprint beyond malls and accelerate its expansion in Asia (and the premium fashion sneaker market) via two separate transactions. The company has entered into a deal to acquire U.S.-based athletic footwear and apparel retailer Eurostar Inc., or WSS, for $750 million. The retailer operates 93 off-mall stores in California, Texas, Arizona and Nevada.
May require account to read. The masks are back. On Monday, major retailers and restaurant chains such as Home Depot Inc. and McDonaldâs Corp., said they would require workers to wear masks in many of their stores, restaurants and offices regardless of vaccination status. Some municipalities and local officials also said Monday they would start to impose new indoor mask mandates on residents in response to new federal health guidelines and rising U.S. Covid-19 cases.
Kroger, the nationâs largest supermarket chain, and ghost kitchen start-up Kitchen United are teaming up to prepare takeout and delivery food inside some of its grocery stores. The partnership announced Wednesday marries Kitchen Unitedâs goal of aggressive expansion with Kroger customersâ demand for more freshly prepared meals. Both companies saw a surge in demand during the pandemic but now face challenges as consumers return to restaurants.
Ralph Lauren came out with quarterly earnings of $2.29 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.89 per share. This compares to loss of $1.82 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of 157.30%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this upscale clothing company would post a loss of $0.73 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.38, delivering a surprise of 152.05%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates four times.
Cloud video conferencing provider Zoom has agreed to settle a consolidated class action federal lawsuit for $85 million as well as reform its security and data privacy practices, according to court documents filed in California. The lawsuit stems from users' complaints about the company's data privacy and security practices, including instances in which customers had their video conferences interrupted by "Zoom bombing," in which attackers gained access to meeting passwords or bypassed security features and disrupted the proceedings with profanity and offensive images.
The head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said the bank regulator is conducting a review of bank overdraft policies in testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday. OCC Acting Comptroller Michael Hsu, who testified alongside Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chair Jelena McWilliams and National Credit Union Administration Chair Todd Harper, told senators his agency is "looking very closely at overdrafts."
A federal judge has given preliminary approval to a settlement that would require Wawa to pay customers up to $9 million in gift cards and cash after a massive data breach exposed customersâ payment card numbers. Wawa, which is based in Wawa, Delaware County, was hit with a wave of lawsuits claiming the company failed to protect consumers from hackers after it announced the data breach in December 2019. Hackers accessed Wawaâs point-of-sale systems, installed malware, and tried to sell stolen customer payment card data on the âdark web."
Job creation at private companies tumbled in July as fears mounted over the spreading Covid-19 delta variant, payroll processing firm ADP reported Wednesday. Employers added 330,000 positions for the month, a sharp deceleration from the downwardly revised 680,000 in June. Itâs also well below the 653,000 Dow Jones estimate. Juneâs final total fell from the initial estimate of 692,000. Julyâs job growth was also the smallest gain since February.
Kabbage, an American Express company, issued the third installment of its Small Business Recovery Report, which tracks U.S. small business recovery and growth outlook through 2022. Polling 550 small business leaders, the latest report shows small businessesâ sales and profits are nearing pre-pandemic levels, while hiring and vaccination protocols present unique challenges on the path to recovery. âItâs clear as COVID restrictions lift across the nation and Americansâ lives largely return to a new normal, the economic effects among the smallest of small businesses linger,â said Kathryn Petralia, co-founder of Kabbage.
U.S. consumers' demand for new debt grew in the second quarter and credit card use rebounded, reversing the trend of declining card use seen earlier in the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report released on Tuesday by the New York Federal Reserve. Total household debt increased by $313 billion in the second quarter to $14.96 trillion, the New York Fed said in its quarterly report on household debt and credit. Mortgage debt continued to be the biggest driver of that growth, rising by $282 billion to $10.44 trillion by the end of June.
For consumers and economists hoping commodities inflation will soon subside, the aluminum market delivered some discouraging news on Monday. The worldâs second-largest brewer, Heineken NV, said the rising costs of freight and the metal used in beer cans will have a âmaterial effectâ on profit next year. Reynolds Consumer Products Inc., the maker of the iconic Reynolds Wrap, said itâs facing costs of about $400 million this year driven in large part by aluminum and resin.
As for the recently acquired properties, VenueNext is benefiting from âa return to live entertainment events,â Lauber said, while Shift4Shop has added 36,000 online stores since the acquisition, according to Isaacman. Chicagoâs United Center is VenueNextâs latest client, a deal announced a week ago. Isaacman said Shift4 has not exhausted the possibilities for further acquisitions, but added, âWe donât want to be pressured into a bad deal.â Referring to acquired properties as long-term bets, he jokingly referred to completed acquisitions as a âlife sentence,â adding, âweâre not going to do a transaction weâll regret.â
EVO Payments, Inc. announced its second quarter 2021 financial results. For the quarter ended June 30, 2021, reported revenue was $122.2 million compared to $94.3 million in the prior year, an increase of 30%. On a currency neutral basis, revenue for the quarter increased 23%. On a GAAP basis for the quarter, net income was $6.8 million compared to a net loss of $9.0 million in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA increased 42% to $42.8 million for the quarter, and on a currency neutral basis, adjusted EBITDA increased 34%.
Paysafe, a leading specialized payments platform, announces that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire PagoEfectivo, a market-leading, Peruvian alternative payments (APM) platform. For Paysafe, this latest investment is a strategic foothold in Latin America, one of the worldâs fastest-growing online markets where merchants and consumers alike are demonstrating an increased appetite for alternative payment methods and online banking solutions.
Restaurants can simplify business operations and accept payments in ways that fit the new and different post-pandemic environment with CloverÂŽ Station Solo, a solution designed to help full-service restaurants run front and back of house operations through a single merchant-facing device. Clover Station Solo is the latest addition to the wide range of point-of-sale (POS) devices available through Clover from Fiserv, Inc., a leading provider of payments and financial services technology solutions.
Under the MoU, Nexi will pay âŹ157m for the stake, implying an evaluation of âŹ307m on the total acquiring book. In addition, Alpha Bank is entitled to an earnout of up to âŹ30.6m, subject to achieving certain targets in the first four years of operations. The Greek business will be spun out to a new joint venture operation, under which Alpha Bank will become the exclusive distributor of acquiring services and will receive referral fees. Nexi will consolidate the JV and expects it to generate gross revs of âŹ93m and Ebitda of âŹ18m in FY22.
Digital engagement continues to grow rapidly at Bank of America, with more clients making online and mobile primary channels for more of their banking and lending with Bank of America and investing with Merrill. Today 85% of deposit transactions are being made through the Bank of America app, ATMs and other automated channels â driven by nearly 48 million checks deposited digitally during the second quarter alone. âWe are delivering the best financial technology to help make our clientsâ financial lives better,â said David Tyrie, head of digital at Bank of America.
The OLB Group, Inc., a provider of cloud-based omnicommerce and payment acceptance solutions for small- and mid-sized merchants, announced the formation of DMint, Inc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of OLB (âDMintâ) that will commence mining cryptocurrency in 2021. The operations plan for DMint to build out data centers and utilize ASIC machines to mine cryptocurrency with underutilized energy in accordance with ESG standards.
Citi Australia is getting into the buy now, pay later (BNPL) market with its new product called Spot, which is being issued by company subsidiary Diners and will officially launch in October. The card can be used online or in-store anywhere Mastercard is accepted worldwide and allows users to split payments for merchandise into four interest-free installments. Citi customers can pre-register for Spot before it is publicly rolled out. Retailers can also sign up in advance for partnership opportunities.
"I've worked closely with Tim over the past few years and believe no one has a stronger pulse on the heartbeat of this organization than he does," noted Beyond President, Brent Rose. "He has been instrumental in the growth of our Sales leaders. Each Vice President he's worked with has a different leadership style, and yet he's been able to challenge them in the right way to allow them to reach their goals, and ensure their regions crush records."
FinAccel on Monday agreed to go public through a merger with a blank-check firm, valuing the parent of Indonesian buy now, pay later platform Kredivo at about $2.5 billion, a further sign of consolidation in the fast-growing sector. The deal follows Square Inc's move to purchase buy now, pay later pioneer Afterpay Ltd for $29 billion, underscoring the popularity of the business model that has boomed in the past year as homebound consumers used it to borrow and spend online during the pandemic.
âCSG continued to build off our Q1 momentum and delivered 6.2% year-over-year revenue and adjusted revenue growth in Q2, which was predominantly all organic growth,â said Brian Shepherd, President and Chief Executive Officer of CSG. âOn the back of our strong first half performance, we are boosting all 2021 financial guidance targets, including revenue, adjusted operating margin and EPS.
ACI Worldwide, a leading global provider of real-time payments and digital payment software solutions, announced an expanded multi-year strategic alliance with Microsoft to deliver payments solutions in the cloud. The alliance will accelerate and expand ACIâs cloud payments offerings in Microsoft Azure as more financial institutions (FIs) embrace digital transformation.
Shiji Payment Solutions has built a native connection to Worldline, a European leader in the payments and transactional services industry. Shiji Payment Solutions is Shiji Groupâs flexible, global platform for payment processing, focused on all aspects of the hospitality industry. With access to a global portfolio of payment partners, the modular design of Shiji Payment Solutions allows customers to quickly add partners and payment devices at any time.
FLEETCOR Technologies, Inc., a leading global business payments company, announced signing a definitive agreement to acquire ALE Solutions, Inc. (ALE), a leader in lodging solutions to the insurance industry. By acquiring ALE, FLEETCORÂŽ extends its lodging business into the insurance vertical. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021, subject to regulatory approval and standard closing conditions.
Feedzai, the worldâs leading cloud-based financial risk management platform, announced the acquisition of the most advanced behavioral biometric platform, Revelock. Following a $200m investment round earlier this year, Feedzaiâs acquisition creates the worldâs largest AI-powered financial risk management platform with native, integrated behavioral biometrics. The integrated platform enables financial institutions and merchants across the globe to detect and prevent financial crime before it occurs.
"The launch of Interac e-Transfer for Business in collaboration with Canada's banking and credit union community marks a milestone in the modernization of Canadian payments and provides a timely solution as businesses embrace financial transformation to aid their recovery and growth plans," said William Keliehor, Chief Commercial Officer at Interac. "It reflects an increasing focus from Interac on the commercial market as we respond to the accelerating need for secure, data-rich, real-time business payments, made especially evident during the pandemic."
Bluefin, the leading provider of payment security technologies including PCI-validated Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE) and tokenization solutions for healthcare, higher education, government and petroleum, has announced a new partnership with HealthPay24ÂŽ that will provide their users integrated payment processing capabilities backed by PCI-validated P2PE. HealthPay24 offers the only all-in-one patient payment platform that is custom-designed to help providers consolidate vendors, reconcile collections, and create trust through consumer engagement.
IRIS CRM is proud to announce that after a thorough, months-long audit completed by Assure Professional, we have received our SOC 2 Type 2 Certification! Completion of the audit certifies that IRIS CRM meets the security standards established by the AICPA. Merchant services providers using IRIS CRM will benefit from our certification by being able to meet more stringent security requirements of potential partners, especially banks, who often require SOC 2 compliance in addition to PCI level 1 compliance.
Spence Labs, a bank-backed, compliant digital payment system for the cannabis industry, today announced a full POS integration with BLAZEÂŽ, the industry-leading enterprise resource planning and point of sale (POS) platform for legal cannabis. This partnership is a game changer for both dispensaries and customers, who have for far too long relied on cash transactions. Now consumers who order online or in the store can pay in a compliant digital way.
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