Adyen raises revenue forecast on acquisition boost, shares soar

By Gianluca Lo Nostro and Leo Marchandon

Aug 13 (Reuters) - Adyen raised its revenue growth forecast on Thursday, sending the shares 11% higher and offering investors some relief after a year during which the Dutch payments processor lost more than a third of its market value.

Adyen now expects its net revenue to grow between 21% and 23% in 2026, having previously guided for 20% to 22% growth.

The hike was driven by the recent acquisitions of Talon.One and Orb, Adyen's first deals in 20 years of its history, co-CEO Pieter van der Does told Reuters. Despite this, he said there were no plans to buy another payments company, as Adyen's focus remains on building and partnering with adjacent services.

"I think it's better for merchants to move to Adyen than the merchants that are on such a payment service to be acquired and being forced to move to Adyen," van der Does added.

Adyen, which handles payments for customers including Spotify and Microsoft, has continued to expand, competing with PayPal and Stripe in North America, after the pandemic-driven shift towards online shopping accelerated the adoption of digital payments.

The company's success is rooted in its integrated technology platform and a pricing model that can lower merchants' payment costs as transaction volumes rise.

Adyen's shares had come under pressure after it reported weaker processed volumes in February and issued a cautious outlook for the year, adding to investor unease.

On Thursday morning, the stock was the best performer on Europe's benchmark STOXX 600 index.

Half-year adjusted core earnings reached €641.5 million ($739.3 million), below a Visible Alpha consensus of €647.2 million, reflecting higher costs from the recent acquisitions.

Net revenue in the six months to June grew 21% on a constant currency basis to €1.30 billion, slightly above market expectations.

($1 = 0.8678 euros)

(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro and Leo Marchandon; editing by Matt Scuffham and Milla Nissi-Prussak)