ATLANTA -- Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN) today announced results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2021.

“We are pleased with the resilience that our businesses demonstrated during the fourth quarter of 2021 and for the full year,” said Jeff Sloan, Chief Executive Officer. “We are particularly proud of the sequential improvement in our Merchant Solutions business this quarter, despite the incremental impact of COVID-19 throughout the period. We reported the best results in our history in 2021, and we expect 2022 to exceed that performance as we continue to meaningfully advance our differentiated strategies for growth.

“We are thrilled to announce that Global Payments is the finalist company in Caixabank’s selection process for a technology partner for its card issuing businesses. During the coming weeks we expect to finalize contract negotiations. Upon implementation in conjunction with our recently announced partnership with Virgin Money, we believe that Global Payments will be among the leading debit technology providers across Europe.”

Sloan continued, “In addition to our selection by Caixa and the announcement of our collaboration with Virgin Money, we achieved many other significant accomplishments over the past twelve months despite a highly uncertain environment. This includes our partnership with Google to deliver innovative and seamless digital services to all manner of merchants worldwide; the expansion of our relationship with AWS for unique distribution and cutting-edge issuer technologies; our successful acquisitions of Zego and MineralTree to advance our software leadership position; and our partnership with Mercedes-Benz Stadium to enable its multi-channel commerce ecosystem and provide best-in-class experiences for fans.

“It has been an active period for capital management with more than $6 billion deployed since 2020 to expand our target addressable markets while concurrently returning capital to shareholders. Our free cash flow conversion and balance sheet provide us with ample firepower to continue to execute on our priorities.”

Sloan concluded, “At the same time, we seek to refine our portfolio mix by simplifying the composition of our businesses and maintaining a singular focus on our corporate customers. As part of that initiative, we have commenced a strategic review of the Netspend consumer business; we intend to retain its B2B assets as we further expand this new pillar of our strategy.”

Full Year 2021 Summary

• GAAP revenues were $8.52 billion, compared to $7.42 billion in 2020; diluted earnings per share were $3.29 compared to $1.95 in the prior year; and operating margin was 15.9% compared to 12.0% in the prior year.
• Adjusted net revenues increased 14.7% to $7.74 billion, compared to $6.75 billion in 2020.
• Adjusted earnings per share increased 27.5% to $8.16, compared to $6.40 in 2020.
• Adjusted operating margin of 41.8% expanded 210 basis points.

Fourth Quarter 2021 Summary
• GAAP revenues were $2.19 billion, compared to $1.93 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020; diluted earnings per share were $0.72 compared to $0.61 in the prior year; and operating margin was 14.6% compared to 13.1% in the prior year.
• Adjusted net revenues increased 13.3% to $1.98 billion, compared to $1.75 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020.
• Adjusted earnings per share increased 18.3% to $2.13, compared to $1.80 in the fourth quarter of 2020.
• Adjusted operating margin of 42.0% expanded 50.0 basis points.

2022 Outlook

“Our performance for the full year meaningfully exceeded our initial expectations despite the unexpected impact of COVID-19 variants, highlighting outstanding execution and the durability of our business model," said Paul Todd, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. “We are pleased with how our business is positioned as we enter 2022 and the resulting financial outlook for the year.

“The company expects adjusted net revenue to be in a range of $8.42 billion to $8.50 billion, reflecting growth of 9% to 10% (10% to 11% on a constant currency basis) over 2021, and adjusted earnings per share to be in a range of $9.45 to $9.67, reflecting growth of 16% to 19% (17% to 20% on a constant currency basis) over 2021. Annual adjusted operating margin for 2022 is expected to expand by up to 100 basis points (up to 150 basis points excluding acquisitions).”

Todd concluded, “This outlook presumes continued recovery from the pandemic worldwide throughout 2022.”

Capital Allocation

Global Payments’ Board of Directors approved a dividend of $0.25 per share payable March 25, 2022 to shareholders of record as of March 11, 2022. The Board also approved an increase to the existing authorization for the company's share repurchase program, raising the total available authorization to $2.0 billion.

Full report: https://s21.q4cdn.com/254933054/files/doc_financials/2021/q4/Q4-2021-Press-Release_Final.pdf