Payments firm Wirecard posts surge in profit as it nets new clients
German payments firm Wirecard reported a jump in profits in its half-year results today and said it expected to do better in 2019 than originally thought.
The firm, which provides payments systems to businesses and cards to customers, was boosted by new relationships with companies such as supermarket Aldi.
Read more: Softbank to invest €900m for stake in digital payments firm Wirecard
The figures
Wirecard reported a 40 per cent boost to its pre-tax earnings in the first half of the year. They rose to €143.3m (£132m) from €102.3m a year earlier.
Its revenue rose 37 per cent year on year to €643m in the first half from €467.9m.
The increases took earnings per share to €1.06 from €0.70
Why it’s interesting
Wirecard increased its earnings forecast for 2019, saying it expected earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) of between €765m to €815m. It had previously predicted Ebitda of €760m and €810m.
The payments company partnered with the giant Japanese holding and investment company Softbank in the first half of the year, securing a €900m investment via a convertible bond.
The German firm said the relationship will “open up numerous possibilities for cooperation in areas such as digital financing, data analysis, and artificial intelligence”.
What Wirecard said
Chief executive Markus Braun said: “In the first half year our growth accelerated, hence we are looking extremely optimistic towards the second half of 2019.”
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In its outlook, the firm said: “We and our powerful partners and customers will benefit sustainably from the accelerating trend towards the digitalisation of business processes across all sectors.”
“As the result of the continuously rising number of customer relationships and growing transaction volumes, we expect further economies of scale from our transaction-oriented business model.”