Latest news with #Accuracy
The Star
19 hours ago
- Business
- The Star
Wordline forecasts decline in 2025 organic revenue
(Reuters) -Worldline expects a low single-digit percentage decline in organic revenue during 2025 following a "challenging" first half, the French digital payments company said on Wednesday. The Paris-based company guided towards adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of between 825 and 875 million euro ($1 billion) this year. "There is work to be done over several quarters before returning to a level of growth consistent with the market," CEO Pierre-Antoine Vacheron said in a call with reporters. Worldline postponed its yearly guidance in April amid a strategic overhaul initiated following the appointment of Vacheron in May. In February, it had forecast similar revenue growth in 2025 to the year before. The group's shares lost over a third of their value in a single day in June, after a group of 21 European media outlets alleged that Worldline covered up client fraud to protect revenue. Its shares hit a low of 2.70 euros before recovering partially, closing at 3.57 euros on Tuesday, valuing the business at 1 billion euros. Belgian prosecutors opened an investigation in June into potential money laundering activities at its Belgian unit. Worldline hired auditing firm Accuracy in July to assess its remaining portfolio of merchants engaged in "risky" activities. The company said on Wednesday that preliminary findings from that review suggest no "material" need for more client relationships to be terminated. Half-year revenue fell 3.4% to 2.20 billion euro, slightly below the 2.22 billion euro projected in a company-compiled analyst poll. The performance reflects the challenges encountered over the last months, the company said. On Tuesday, Worldline announced the sale of its mobility & e-transactional services business to Magellan Partners in a deal valued at up to 410 million euro. The company also announced that Srikanth Seshadri will become its new Chief Financial Officer on September 8, replacing Gregory Lambertie. ($1 = 0.8663 euros) (Reporting by Leo Marchandon; Editing by Matt Scuffham)
CNA
19 hours ago
- Business
- CNA
Wordline forecasts decline in 2025 organic revenue
Worldline expects a low single-digit percentage decline in organic revenue during 2025 following a "challenging" first half, the French digital payments company said on Wednesday. The Paris-based company guided towards adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of between 825 and 875 million euro ($1 billion) this year. "There is work to be done over several quarters before returning to a level of growth consistent with the market," CEO Pierre-Antoine Vacheron said in a call with reporters. Worldline postponed its yearly guidance in April amid a strategic overhaul initiated following the appointment of Vacheron in May. In February, it had forecast similar revenue growth in 2025 to the year before. The group's shares lost over a third of their value in a single day in June, after a group of 21 European media outlets alleged that Worldline covered up client fraud to protect revenue. Its shares hit a low of 2.70 euros before recovering partially, closing at 3.57 euros on Tuesday, valuing the business at 1 billion euros. Belgian prosecutors opened an investigation in June into potential money laundering activities at its Belgian unit. Worldline hired auditing firm Accuracy in July to assess its remaining portfolio of merchants engaged in "risky" activities. The company said on Wednesday that preliminary findings from that review suggest no "material" need for more client relationships to be terminated. Half-year revenue fell 3.4 per cent to 2.20 billion euro, slightly below the 2.22 billion euro projected in a company-compiled analyst poll. The performance reflects the challenges encountered over the last months, the company said. On Tuesday, Worldline announced the sale of its mobility & e-transactional services business to Magellan Partners in a deal valued at up to 410 million euro. The company also announced that Srikanth Seshadri will become its new Chief Financial Officer on September 8, replacing Gregory Lambertie. ($1 = 0.8663 euros)
Local France
02-07-2025
- Business
- Local France
Audit of French payments firm after dubious payments
Director general Pierre-Antoine Vacheron told financial daily Les Echos the company would 'scan its entire portfolio of riskiest activities by the end of July'. Board chairman Wilfried Verstraete said the key findings of an external audit of merchants engaged in risky activities will be unveiled on July 30th, along with the presentation of the firm's half-year results. The company has entrusted the audit to financial consulting firm Accuracy. Another consulting firm, Oliver Wyman, has been brought in to evaluate Worldline's overall control system. Worldline, a key link in the global payments chain, earns commissions on the flow of payments made both to physical and online customers. Some clients, such as online casinos, crypto-asset platforms and porn sites, are considered high-risk. An investigation published last week by a media consortium accused Worldline of processing billions of euros in fraudulent transactions in such sectors, as well as with suspected money laundering networks. French new website Mediapart accused Worldline of having 'knowingly closed its eyes, in violation of its regulatory obligations, to fraudulent practices by 'high-risk' clients.' The media investigation presaged an investigation by the Brussels prosecutor's office into the group's Belgian subsidiary over potential money laundering. The firm is also under investigation by Germany's financial supervisor, BaFin. Advertisement As the story emerged, Worldline said it had beefed up its merchant risk management framework since 2023 to ensure full compliance with legal requirements. In a statement last Wednesday it added it had 'terminated commercial relationships deemed non-compliant'. 'The cleanup has been largely completed,' Vacheron told Les Echos , saying high-risk transactions represented some '1.5 percent of Worldline's acquisition volume out of approximately €500 billion in transactions in 2024.' He said the audit, 'should make it possible to verify there are no black sheep within this 1.5 percent'. Shares in Worldline, a former subsidiary of Atos but independent since 2019, slumped to a record low of 2.70 euros last Wednesday, a having peaked at 85 euros in 2021. They were trading Wednesday at 3.89 euros.
Bloomberg
02-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Worldline Hires Auditor to Assess Risky Clients, Chairman Says
Worldline SA hired an external firm to go through its portfolio of risky clients as the payments firm seeks to restore trust following media allegations that it turned a blind eye to fraud pummeled its share price. The audit has been assigned to a firm called Accuracy and Worldline plans to publish the findings along with earnings on July 30, Chairman Wilfried Verstraete told the newspaper Les Echos in an interview. The company is also hiring Oliver Wyman to review its control systems, he said.
