Worldpay Group earnings climb 8 pct in debut annual results
- Underlying earnings (EBITDA) up 8 pct to 406 mln pounds
- First interim dividend due late 2016 (Recasts, adds share price performance, company comments)
British payments processor Worldpay reported an 8 percent rise in underlying earnings to 406 million pounds ($578.3 million) last year in its first results since listing in London in October.
The company, which was the biggest flotation on the London Stock Exchange last year, also said it swung to a profit before tax of 19 million pounds after a loss of 47 million in 2014, when it invested heavily in technology.
Private equity companies Advent International and Bain Capital bought Worldpay from Royal Bank of Scotland in 2010 for about 2 billion pounds.
The business provides platforms to allow merchants to accept payments by cards and other methods.
Worldpay executives said the company’s capital expenditure of about 180 million pounds a year should continue in 2016 before falling next year to about 120 million pounds as it completes major investments, allowing a first dividend.
“We expect to pay our first dividend in late 2016, and once our capex comes down in 2017 we should see a progressive, growing dividend,” Chief Financial Officer Rick Medlock said.
Worldpay processes payments for more than 400,000 customers across mobile, online and in-store transactions and has about 5,000 staff, mostly in Britain and the United States, its two biggest markets.
Worldpay’s shares fell 3 percent to 283 pence after the results on Tuesday, still 18 percent above their October listing price of 240 pence.
Company executives said they did not expect a big impact on their business from either outcome of the June 23 referendum on whether Britain should leave the European Union, but that they were nonetheless planning carefully.
“The key thing is to make sure we play a part in shaping the outcome from a regulatory point of view,” Vice Chairman Ron Kalifa said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
Source: Reuters
