(Reuters) – French payment firm Worldline said on Tuesday it bought Handelsbanken’s card-acquiring activities in the Nordic countries as it posted a rise in first-half core profit on the back of a post-lockdown recovery in its main markets.
The group, which offers payment transaction processing for clients ranging from merchants to government agencies, said the deal would result in additional annual revenue of around 35 million euros ($41 million) and a double-digit organic growth rate over the next four years.
The Handelsbanken deal follows Worldline’s acquisitions of Cardlink in Greece and Axepta in Italy, both announced during the first half.
The company posted first-half operating earnings before depreciation and amortisation (OMDA) of 531 million euros, up 5.6% from a year earlier.
Payment processing firms have seen a surge in business, helped by a pandemic-led shift to digital transactions, but in-store volumes have been hit by lockdowns in Europe amid successive waves of COVID-19 infections.
Half-year sales came in at 2.27 billion euros, flat compared to a year earlier and in line with Worldline’s own guidance.
The company confirmed its 2021 outlook, including a minimum mid-single digit percentage rise in underlying revenues.
($1 = 0.8475 euros)
(Reporting by Bartosz Dabrowski and Juliette Portala in Gdansk; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Ramakrishnan M.)
