Key points:
- Paysafe will sell its direct marketing payment processing business line to the former CEO of the company
- Revenue increased by 1% in Q4 and 6% in FY24
- The company also announced a $70m increase to its existing share repurchase programme
Paysafe has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its direct marketing payment processing business line as part of its FY24 updates.
Q4 2024
For the three months ending 31 December 2024, total revenue in the company increased by 1% to $420m.
When split into individual verticals, merchant solutions increased by 1% to $230m; digital wallets increased 2% to $194m; the intersegment division remained at -$4m.
The direct marketing payment processing business line saw a 46% decrease during this time, from $24m down to $13m.
In previous earnings calls, Paysafe executives had discussed plans to reduce the company’s exposure to direct marketing, and ultimately decided during the Q4 period that “an accelerated exit would best support long-term shareholder value and minimise disruption to the impacted employees and remaining customers.”
Despite this, the net income for Q4 is expected to be between $31m and $37m, which is compared to a net loss of -$12m in the same time the previous year.
Adjusted EBITDA fell by 16% to a total of $103m, mostly due to a 42% drop in merchant solutions down to $33m.
Corporate also fell 6% to -$18m and the direct marketing payment processing business line dropped from $13m to -$6m.
The adjusted EBITDA for digital wallets was the only vertical which grew this quarter, going from $319m to $339m.
FY24
For the full year ending 31 December 2024, Paysafe’s total revenue increased by 6% to $1.71bn which was supported by almost every vertical seeing growth.
Merchant solutions increased by 9% to $958m, digital wallets grew 4% to $766m and the direct marketing payment processing business line also rose 2% to $104m.
The only division that didn’t improve was intersegment, which went from -$12m to -$18m.
The net income for this year is expected to be between $19m and $25m, compared to the net loss of -$20m in 2023.
Adjusted EBITDA fell by 2% during 2024 to $452m, which was primarily due to a 14% fall in merchant solutions down to $191m and a 25% decrease in the direct marketing payment processing business line to $43m.
The adjusted EBITDA for digital wallets rose by 6% to $339m while corporate improved from -$82m to -$78m.
Expectations for 2025
Paysafe expects revenue growth this year to be between 6.5% and 8%, the adjusted EBITDA margin to be between 27.1% and 27.6% and adjusted EBITDA growth to be in the double digits.
The company has also authorised a $70m increase to its existing share repurchase programme.
Sale of its direct marketing payment processing business line
As part of the above results, Paysafe also announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its direct marketing payment processing business line.
The assets from this will go to Kort Payments, an omnichannel payments provider which is comprised of many former Paysafe team members - including Joel Leonoff.
Leonoff is the Chair and CEO of Kort Payments, but was also the former President and CEO of Paysafe.
He founded SureFire Commerce, which was eventually merged and acquired by Skrill to form Paysafe Group.
John Crawford, CFO of Paysafe commented: “This is a meaningful step forward to improve our financial performance by eliminating a declining, non-core revenue stream while significantly reducing Paysafe’s exposure to higher risk verticals.
“It’s important to highlight that the core businesses performed in line with our expectations for 2024, including 10% revenue growth from our merchant solutions segment, excluding the disposed business, and 4% revenue growth from our digital wallets segment.
“We look forward to providing more detail on our 2024 performance and 2025 outlook during our earnings call next month.”
Meanwhile, Kort Payments said: “We are thrilled to announce that Kort Payments has acquired the direct marketing payment processing business from US-based Paysafe Direct LLC. This strategic move marks a significant milestone in our journey to expand our capabilities and enhance our service offerings to better serve our clients.
“We are excited about the opportunities this brings and look forward to integrating the strengths of both companies to create unparalleled value for our customers.
“Stay tuned for more updates as we embark on this exciting new chapter!”
In the 2025 EMEA Global Gaming Awards, Paysafe was the winner of the Payment Solution of the Year, taking the award over runner-up Okto and Trustly in third place.
