Paysafe said it continued expand its sales organisation to drive new customer acquisition, cross-selling, multi-product sales and geographical expansion during the Q1, with new launches in Massachusetts, Washington and Ohio among its highlights.
With Paysafe now powering payments for online gambling operators across 27 states and jurisdictions, chief executive Bruce Lowthers said recent launches and planned expansion over the coming months will drive growth in line with expectations in 2023.
“We kicked off 2023 by delivering our strongest quarterly revenue since going public,” Lowthers said. “Revenue increased 7% and adjusted EBITDA increased 5% year-over-year on a constant currency basis, fuelled by double-digit growth from our classic digital wallets as well as e-commerce.
“We are confident in maintaining our full year outlook and remain very pleased with the progress of our sales transformation initiative, which is driving cross-selling and higher value client wins.”
Paysafe e-commerce growth drives Q1 revenue increase
Total revenue for the first quarter was $387.8m (£309.8m/€366.2m), up from $367.7m in the previous year. Paysafe noted that when excluding a $7.3m unfavourable impact from changes in foreign exchange rates, total revenue increased 7.0% year-on-year.
Breaking this down, merchant solutions revenue climbed 8.4% to $208.5m, due to growth from e-commerce as well as the SMB market in North America.
Revenue from digital wallets edged up 2.0% to $181.4m, driven by underlying growth from igaming and digital, as well as interest revenue on customer deposits, offsetting the impact from the war in Ukraine. Paysafe also accounted for $2.1m in intersegment revenue, taking this away from the final revenue total.
Turning to spending and costs of service increased 8.0% to $158.9m, remaining the primary outgoing for Paysafe. However, costs were down across selling, general and administrative and restructuring and other expenses, while impairment costs were slashed from $1.21bn to just $82,000.
Paysafe also noted $34.9m worth of net finance costs, leaving a pre-tax profit of $71,000, in contrast to a $1.21bn net loss at the same point in 2022.
The group paid $3.8m in income tax, resulting in a net loss of $3.8m, compared to $1.17bn in the previous year. However, when including a $2.2m gain on foreign currency translation, net loss was reduced to $1.6m, in contrast to $1.16bn last year.
In addition, adjusted EBITDA improved by 3.7% year-on-year to $107.8m for the quarter.
Original article: https://igamingbusiness.com/finance/quarterly-results/paysafe-reaffirms-full-year-guidance-after-record-q1/
