-Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN) today announced results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2023.

“We are pleased with our results for the fourth quarter and full year 2023 that were ahead of our initial expectations outlined last February,” said Cameron Bready, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Importantly, we saw consistent business performance throughout the year despite ongoing uncertainties, highlighting the durability and resiliency of our business model.”

Bready continued, “We also accomplished a great deal strategically last year, including successfully closing our acquisition of EVO Payments in March, providing further penetration into integrated payments, enhancing our B2B capabilities and expanding our exposure to stronger secular growth markets. Further, we completed the exit of our Netspend Consumer and Gaming Solutions businesses. These transactions represent important milestones as we seek to advance our strategy and operate a simpler business model centered on our core corporate and financial institution customer base.”

Bready concluded, “And we are already off to a great start in 2024. Our recently announced joint venture with Commerzbank will meaningfully expand our presence in Germany. This partnership allows us to deliver a comprehensive suite of innovative payment and commerce enablement solutions to merchants in the German market, capitalizing on the digitization trends in the largest economy in Europe. We are also pleased to announce we executed multi-year renewal agreements with two of our flagship Issuer Solutions clients, Capital One and Navy Federal.”

Fourth Quarter 2023 Summary

• GAAP revenues were $2.43 billion, compared to $2.25 billion in 2022; diluted earnings per share were $1.38, compared to $0.94 in the prior year; and operating margin was 20.5%, compared to 18.1% in the prior year.

• Adjusted net revenues increased 8% to $2.19 billion, compared to $2.02 billion in 2022.

• Adjusted earnings per share increased 10% to $2.65, compared to $2.42 in 2022.

• Adjusted operating margin expanded 30 basis points to 44.8%.

Full Year 2023 Summary

• GAAP revenues were $9.65 billion, compared to $8.98 billion in 2022; diluted earnings per share were $3.77, compared to $0.40 in the prior year; and operating margin was 17.8%, compared to 7.1% in the prior year.

• Adjusted net revenues increased 7% to $8.67 billion, compared to $8.09 billion in 2022.

• Adjusted earnings per share increased 12% to $10.42, compared to $9.32 in 2022.

• Adjusted operating margin expanded 90 basis points to 44.6%.

2024 Outlook

“We are pleased with our consistent execution and how our business is positioned as we enter 2024,” said Josh Whipple, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. “The company expects adjusted net revenue to be in a range of $9.17 billion to $9.30 billion, reflecting growth of 6% to 7% and adjusted earnings per share to be in a range of $11.54 to $11.70, reflecting growth of 11% to 12% over 2023. Annual adjusted operating margin for 2024 is expected to expand by up to 50 basis points.”

Whipple concluded, “Our outlook for the year reflects the continued positive momentum in our business, while also accommodating a slightly more tempered economic environment given continued uncertainty.”

Capital Allocation

Global Payments’ Board of Directors approved a dividend of $0.25 per share payable on March 29, 2024 to shareholders of record as of March 15, 2024. The Board of Directors also approved an increase in the company's share repurchase authorization capacity to $2 billion.

Conference Call

Global Payments’ management will host a live audio webcast today, February 14, 2024, at 8:00 a.m. EST to discuss financial results and business highlights. The audio webcast, along with supplemental financial information, can be accessed via the investor relations page of the company’s website at investors.globalpayments.com. A replay of the audio webcast will be archived on the company's website following the live event.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Global Payments supplements revenues, operating income, operating margin and net income and earnings per share determined in accordance with GAAP by providing these measures with certain adjustments (such measures being non-GAAP financial measures) in this earnings release to assist with evaluating our performance. In addition to GAAP measures, management uses these non-GAAP financial measures to focus on the factors the company believes are pertinent to the daily management of our operations. The constant currency growth measures adjust for the impact of exchange rates and are calculated using average exchange rates during the comparable period in the prior year.

Global Payments also has provided supplemental non-GAAP information to reflect the divestiture of the consumer portion of our Netspend business, which comprised our former Consumer Solutions segment, which closed in April 2023. Management believes that providing such supplemental financial information should enhance shareholders’ ability to evaluate how the business will be managed going forward.

Reconciliations of each of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measure are included in the schedules to this release, except for forward-looking measures where a reconciliation to the corresponding GAAP measures is not available due to the variability, complexity and limited visibility of the items that are excluded from the non-GAAP outlook measures.

About Global Payments

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN) is a leading payments technology company delivering innovative software and services to our customers globally. Our technologies, services and team member expertise allow us to provide a broad range of solutions that enable our customers to operate their businesses more efficiently across a variety of channels around the world.

Headquartered in Georgia with approximately 27,000 team members worldwide, Global Payments is a Fortune 500® company and a member of the S&P 500 with worldwide reach spanning North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. For more information, visit company.globalpayments.com and follow Global Payments on X, LinkedIn and Facebook.