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

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Josh Whipple: Yes, absolutely. So James, as I said in my prepared remarks that we expect margins to expand approximately 120 basis points in 2023, which is if you think about our cycle guide at 50 to 75 basis points, that is ahead of our cycle guide. And we expect to see outsized margin expansion in Q1 of approximately 200 basis points, which is similar to the levels that we saw in Q4, and then we expect to see more normalized expansion of 100 basis points to the balance of the year. And I would say that the primary driver of the benefits of this margin expansion is really a business mix shift towards technology enablement and the divestiture of Netspend, which we had talked about, which we expect to be partially offset by the lower margin profile of EVO before we start to go ahead and realize synergies. So that’s a little bit more color as it relates to margin outlook for 2023.

James Faucette: Really appreciate that. And then you guys are obviously basing your outlook on kind of relatively stable macro environment. I guess I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t try to pressure test that a little bit. If we look at some of the segments, whether €“ in your exposure, whether it be the SMB and e-commerce, I’ve heard kind of mixed feedback recently from other companies in the space. Can you just give a little bit of insight into what you’re seeing in SMB? Are you seeing points of weakness, etcetera, similarly on e-commerce? Thanks.

Jeff Sloan: Yes. I’ll start, James, and then I’ll ask Cameron to give more detail. So I would just say, as we said in our prepared remarks, look, the fourth quarter and Cameron said this, in certain of our markets, United Kingdom, Asia Pacific, they moved from a tailwind to a headwind. And I think a lot of that is macroeconomic-related. Some of that obviously is COVID, as Cameron alluded to, kind of coming in and out. I mentioned before that January preliminary results are favorable and that we see those metrics kind of trending and continuing, so that doesn’t appear shifted from the fourth quarter. But the point I was trying to make in my prepared remarks, James, is whatever macro disruption we’ve kind of seen from higher rates, FX, COVID, whatever you want to call it, UK, already in our results from the fourth quarter and certainly our annual results from January and guide our expectations.

So I would say that’s kind of early in the cake, so to speak, as we think about kind of where we are. Cameron, you want to be a little bit more detailed on SMB and mix?

Cameron Bready: Yes, I’m happy to. I mean I think what we’re seeing right now is relative stability across the SMB markets that we target in our vertical market businesses and our Merchant business overall. And the best example I can probably provide is just where we stand as it relates to booking and new sales trends kind of exiting 2022, heading into 2023 because I think that’s a good barometer as to where we see the health of that overall market. Believe it or not, we had our best sales month of the year in our U.S. Merchant business in December. And it was our second best all time. So I think from that perspective, we’re seeing very good momentum across new sales, which I think is a good €“ obviously, a good canary in the coal mine for what we anticipate in 2023.

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