(Reuters) – Italian payments group Nexi on Friday posted a 7% year-on-year rise in 2024 core profit to 1.86 billion euros ($1.93 billion), in line with a company-provided consensus.
Nexi’s stock rose by as much as 10.5%, on track for the biggest daily gains since November 2023 and among the best performers on the pan-European STOXX 600 index.
The firm expects to return a total of 600 million euros to shareholders in 2025, combining 300 million euros of dividend distribution with an additional 300 million euro share buy-back, CEO Paolo Bertoluzzo said in a statement.
The company will return above 10% of its market capitalisation to shareholders in 2025, brokerage Stifel said in a note.
For 2025, despite headwinds in the payment sector, it forecast low to mid single-digit net revenue growth year-on-year, and around a 50 basis-point expansion in its margin on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization.
Stifel adds that the 2025 guidance is “weak due to the previously disclosed loss of Banco BPM and some contract renegotiations, but in line with expectations”.
($1 = 0.9626 euros)
(Reporting by Romolo Tosiani in Gdansk; Editing by Jan Harvey and David Evans)
