Paysafe revenue set to pass $1 billion benchmark in 2017

The UK online payment processing group Paysafe plc has issued a trading update for the full year ended December 31 2016, reporting that it expects revenues to top $1 billion in 2017.

The group saw continued strong momentum during the second-half of 2016 as it focused on building a portfolio of payment-related products and services to meet the evolving needs of businesses and consumers in a rapidly-changing payments industry.

Highlights included:

* Adjusted 2016 EBITDA of $300 million – a new benchmark;

* Implied adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of revenue marginally ahead of expectations;

* Strong business performance throughout the year led to the group raising guidance twice in 2016, resulting in a c.$110 million (c.13 percent) upgrade to revenue expectations over the last 12 months from $868 million to a range of $970-990 million;

* Adjusted EBITDA expectations were also raised by c.$40 million (c.15 percent) from $252 million to a range of $287-293 million. This represented an adjusted EBITDA margin expectation of 29.6 percent, compared to 24.9 percent delivered in FY 15.

* In addition to growth in adjusted EBITDA, Paysafe enjoyed strong cash conversion, enabling it to capitalise on market conditions with an inaugural share buy-back programme announced in December, without compromising the pursuit of bold M&A opportunities.

Current trading and outlook reported by the group is positive and based on the strong revenue performance in H2 16. Management remains confident regarding FY 17, and expects to achieve low double-digit organic revenue growth during the year from a base of 2016’s record performance, while expecting to at least maintain adjusted EBITDA margins.

Second-half operational highlights included:

* Following the successful completion of the Skrill business five months ahead of schedule, Paysafe has begun integrating its comprehensive product suite into a single, scalable payment platform and ecosystem. This includes new and centralised data, analytics, reconciliation, compliance and risk management tools. New platform functionality will be delivered in a modular approach throughout FY 17, reflecting developing needs of the business and its clients;

* The Group launched its new developer portal, making it easier for merchants and developers to access, familiarise and integrate Paysafe products through open APIs and SDKs. This will simplify on boarding and enable Paysafe to share its payments expertise and augment its merchant and consumer base, by creating a vibrant developer-centric community of users;

* Paysafe completed the acquisition of Income Access in August 2016, following the acquisition of MeritCard in February 2016. This affiliate technology business further enhances and expands the relevance of Paysafe’s Digital Wallet proposition;

* Paysafe has ended the year with enhanced operations, processes, products and technology that position the business strongly for growth in FY 2017 and beyond. More specifically, the group has already made substantial investments in Know Your Customer infrastructure, as well as risk management and compliance capabilities, underpinning its ability to adapt and respond quickly and seamlessly to the ongoing development of anti-money laundering regulations worldwide. The Group is confident that new and draft anti-money laundering regulatory changes in Europe will not have any material effect on revenue or adjusted EBITDA margin projections for 2017, with prudent assumptions in relation to additional costs having been built into internal forecasts;

* The business continues to pursue bold M&A alongside organic growth, in order to accelerate growth opportunities and fortify its strong position in the payments space.

Paysafe president and CEO Joel Leonoff said:

“We have delivered another excellent financial performance and expect to surpass $1 billion in revenue, an impressive milestone of which we are extremely proud. Our ongoing momentum underpins our confidence in our growth prospects for 2017.

“We continue to execute on our vision to offer feature-rich and relevant payment solutions that address the specific needs of the businesses and industry verticals we operate in and the consumers we serve. We have big ambitions this year as we focus on building a payments business with unrivalled capabilities, reach and relevance to enable us to capitalise on the opportunities ahead.”

Paysafe expects to announce its final results for the year to 31 December 2016 on Tuesday 7 March 2016.