Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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So look, I’m hopeful we can all look back and say that was a low bar, but you’re talking about a business that had its best performance in the month of December that adds since the merger expect performance in the quarter that it had since the merger, Darrin, be delighted to talk to you in May about how good the performance is in the first quarter if that will continue. But I think we’ve got multiple tailwinds in that business. We’re really excited about where it is. Obviously, part of our goal is to get B2B larger. So as Josh said in his prepared remarks, B2BX Paycard added about 60, 70 basis points to the growth rate. We’d obviously like to get that bigger and that’s part of our plan to get to mid to high over time single-digits in that business, but that’s reflected in our guide today, up to 5.5% growth.

So I think we’ve got every avenue of opportunity available to continue to build on the sequential acceleration that we saw in calendar 2022. And hopefully, Darrin, can look back later in the year and laugh about how easy it was.

Darrin Peller: Alright. It’s great to hear. Thanks, guys.

Jeff Sloan: Thanks, Darrin.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of James Faucette with Morgan Stanley. Please proceed with your question.

James Faucette: Great. Thanks. I wanted to touch quickly on the expense side and expectations for margin expansion. I wonder if you can just give a little more detail there, particularly around like labor. And just wondering if wage pressures have largely subsided at this point? And is that part of what you’re expecting to help contribute to margin expansion?

Jeff Sloan: Yes, James, it’s Jeff. I’ll start and I’ll ask Josh to jump in too kind of at a macro level. I wanted to give you a little bit more of the micro detail. So look, our job is to manage the business. Wage inflation, rent inflation, that’s part of the operating company. Our job is not to blame that for misses. Our job is to absorb that and move on. And I think that’s what we’ve been able to do, not just in the fourth quarter or the guide but over the last number of years. I certainly would say, just speaking for us, that the employment market has changed. I would say, as you’ve seen the tech layoffs come from other folks around the country and around the world, there is no doubt there is been a change in perspective.

I wouldn’t say though that’s changed the wage inflation expectations of people in our company or in the market, more broadly valued team members our value team members. And we need to be and we are market competitive. The last time I looked, which admittedly, James was probably a little bit ago, I think headcount and tech in our company was up 10% versus €˜19, and comp was up similarly or even a little bit more. As I mentioned a minute ago, our job is to manage those numbers, absorb them and still move on, which is kind of what we’ve done. So, ongoing wage inflation is reflected in our expectations for margin expansion this year. It was reflected in our actual results for margin expansion last year. And obviously, we offset that with good growth, we offset it with leverage and everything else.

Josh, you want to be more specific on some of the margin stuff?

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