Payment processor Adyen misses first-half earnings estimates

The company reported Thursday that Dutch payment processor Adyen NV fell short of analyst estimates and its ambitious profit targets for the first half of the year, citing slowing growth in North America and persistent staffing costs.

Adyen provides online payment services to many of the world’s largest online platforms and stores, including Netflix, Meta, Microsoft, Spotify and many more.

EBITDA was 320 million euros ($348 million), down 10% from a year earlier and short of analysts’ expectations of 386 million euros, according to Refinitiv data.

Turnover rose 21% to 739 million euros, against Adyen’s interim forecast of more than 25% growth.

“In some areas, business growth has been slower than expected,” company executives said in a letter to shareholders. “This has been the case for our net income in North America…an increasingly important contributor in recent years.”

The company also mentioned competition in the US, where it competes with Stripe, Fiserv, PayPal, and others.

Adyen’s EBITDA margin fell from 59% to 43%, which the company says is mainly due to higher payroll costs as it hires more employees.

A similar marginal decline led to Adyen’s shares being sold off when the company reported full-year earnings in February.

“We are confident in the long-term benefits of accelerating our team building and consciously embrace its short-term impact,” the company said Thursday.

Adyen has maintained its medium-term goals of sales growth of more than 25% and an improved EBITDA margin that is expected to reach 65% over the long term. ($1 = €0.9205) (Reporting by Toby Sterling and Editing by Jacqueline Wong and David Goodman)