Worldpay rings up substantial earnings improvement

Electronic payments processor Worldpay posted its final results for the 2016 calendar year on Thursday, with the company seeing a 14% rise in transactions to 14.9 billion, as total transaction value rose 12% to £451.1bn.

The FTSE 100 firm said total revenue rose 15% to £4.54bn.

Both net revenue and underlying EBITDA were also up 15% at £1.12bn and £467.6m respectively, with the company swinging to 6.6p earnings per share from 1.8p losses per share in 2015.

Its reported profit before tax was £264.1m, a significant improvement from £19.1m in 2015, and free cash flow also substantially increased to £170.9m from £32.4m.

The board confirmed a total dividend per share of 2p.

“We had a very strong 2016, both in terms of financial performance and strategic progress, and we're starting 2017 better placed than we've ever been,” said chief executive officer Philip Jansen.

“The substantial investments we've made in leading edge technology, innovative products, deep market reach and talented people are delivering real benefits for our customers, and our momentum with them is in turn further increasing our confidence in delivering our medium-term growth ambitions.

“We are continuing to strengthen our global leadership position in payments, and we are well positioned to capitalise on the opportunities for further growth we see in our markets.”