Paysafe lowers 2022 guidance while impairment hits bottom line again

The revenue total was down by 1.4% year-on-year, though within the guidance for the quarter.

Digital commerce made up a majority of revenue, at $191.7m, while revenue from the Paysafe US acquiring division was $187.1m.

During the quarter, Paysafe launched a VIP platform for high-roller US players through its Skrill USA digital wallet.

Cost of services amounted to $158.9m, up by 2.0% year-on-year. Selling, general and administrative costs amounted to $134.7m, while depreciation and amortisation costs came to $69.5m.

Paysafe also noted $676.5m worth of goodwill impairment in its expenses. The business was required to perform a goodwill impairment test because of a slide in its share price. After starting the quarter trading at $3.55 per share – itself a decline of more than 80% from highs achieved in early 2021 – Paysafe ended the period at $1.95.

This impairment test resulted in goodwill being written down by $676.5m, leading to the expense. Further details of this write-down will be released in a future SEC filing.

After other costs, which came to $8.6m, the business reported an operating loss of $669.4m. The business had made a profit of $39.6m a year earlier.

Following other income at $56.1m and interest expenses of $28.4m, the pre-tax loss for the quarter was $641.7m.

After tax at $10.2m, the total net income for the period was $631.5m – a fall of $624.7m from the small loss recorded in Q2 of 2021.

Meanwhile, half-year revenue was $746.5m, down by 1.9%. The business faced a number of costs, the highest of which being impairment expenses at $1.88bn – which was the result of a $1.2bn impairment charge in Q1 alongside the additional cost in Q2. As a result, the business made a pre-tax loss of $1.86bn.

After considering other income, interest expenses and income tax, the net loss for the half-year was $1.80bn, after making a profit in H1 of 2021.

Alongside its Q2 results, Paysafe revised its full year 2022 revenue to be between $1.47bn and $1.49bn. This number was originally set to be between $1.53bn and $1.58bn.

The full-year projection for adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was also lowered, from between $440m and $460m initially to between $400m and $415m.

Paysafe said the lowering of revenue and adjusted EBITDA was to “reflect the impact of foreign currency as well as macroeconomic uncertainty”.