Dive Brief:
- Global Payments, which completed its acquisition of Worldpay last month, plans to expand its salesforce by 300 agents this year as it seeks to build its trillion-dollar international payments processing business.
- In delivering its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings report Wednesday, the CEO of the Atlanta-based processor, Cameron Bready, told analysts on an earnings webcast that the company plans to invest another $1 billion in the business this year.
- For the fourth-quarter, the company reported adjusted net revenues – taking account of the Worldpay acquisition and its separate sale of an issuer software business – climbed 1% to $2.32 billion, according to the Wednesday earnings press release.
Dive Insight:
Global Payments is growing as it spools up its Genius brand processing and point-of-sale services for retailers, restaurants and other merchants, alongside its newly acquired Worldpay operations. The combined business records about $4 trillion in annual payments volume, Bready said on the webcast.
The company has plans to expand the sales team as it tries to grow its brand throughout the 175 countries it services. As part of its increased spending, Global Payments is also expanding its use of artificial intelligence technology in several facets of the business.
On the salesforce expansion, the company has already added about 200 of the 500 agents it previously said late last year that it would hire as part of its growth campaign.
Some of its U.S. clients include convenience store operator Love’s Travel Stops and 7 Brew Drive Thru Coffee, according to a Wednesday webcast with analysts. The company also recently renewed a multi-year agreement with Toast, a POS-provider to restaurants, Bready said on the webcast.
Aside from increased spending this year, the company is targeting “cost synergies” as it integrates Worldpay. That phrase typically signifies cost reductions, including potentially job cuts.
The competition in the processing market is intense, though pricing remains “rational,” Bready said. “I don't think we're seeing a lot of irrational behavior,” he said on the webcast. “From a pricing standpoint, it is very competitive.”
When Bready was asked by an analyst on the webcast about the prospects for taking the company private in some unspecified way, he didn’t reject the general possibility.
“There's enormous amount of private capital that's obviously on the sidelines, and you're seeing bigger and bigger deals getting done,” Bready said. “So, it feels like a more feasible option now than it ever has been. But you know, I think in the short term, we're focusing on delivering on the commitments we’ve made.”
