H2 2018
Shareholder letter
Robust expansion of Adyen’s global footprint
Built-out acquiring and unified commerce capabilities
Substantial expansion of suite of local payment methods, including high-volume domestic card schemes
Merchant-led geographic growth of the Adyen team
Strengthened unified commerce offering
Expanded functionality on point-of-sale (POS) terminals
Invested in POS operations and partnerships to enhance scalability on the back of increased merchant traction
Extended core offering to include easy reconciliation feature (Sales Day Payout)
Accelerating innovation on the single platform
Moved to weekly release cycles — revving up the pace of deployment of new updates on the platform
First to market with in-house built 3DS 2.0 solution
Risk product now available as standalone API
Sustained profitable growth
Increased share of full-stack vs. gateway-only volume on platform as a reflection of our growing acquiring footprint
Net revenue growth across all regions with > 100% year-on-year net revenue growth for North America and Asia-Pacific
Slower operating expenses growth in H2 relative to H1 due to the phasing of some operating expenses spend categories
Robust expansion of Adyen’s global footprint and sustained profitable growth
February 27, 2019
Dear shareholders,
We saw strong profitable growth in the second half of 2018, largely due to the continued growth of enterprise merchants on our platform. The continued build-out of the Adyen acquiring footprint has enabled us to offer our end-to-end payment solution (full-stack) in more geographies around the world. Adding Canada to the countries in which we are able to offer full-stack and unified commerce is one example of this, having already added Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand in the first half of the year. We believe the end-to-end solution unlocks the full strength of the Adyen platform, and consequently delivers the most value to our merchants. So we’re happy to see that the share of full-stack volume increased to 70% of total volume for the full year 2018, compared to 61% for the full year 2017. This reflects the merchant mix that powered our growth in 2018, and our growing acquiring footprint.
The fundamentals behind our historic growth also held true for full year 2018. Volume churn remained at <1% and the vast majority of growth came from our existing enterprise merchants. Additionally, we are seeing increased traction in the unified commerce segment, as well as positive first signs in mid-market, the next adjacent segment to enterprise. For both of these relatively new segments, this comes on the back of increased focus and investment in sales and marketing, partnerships and product optimization. The success of our unified commerce offering and its subsequent increased volume share has resulted in some seasonal tailwinds for the business — especially in the retail vertical —during the end-ofyear shopping cycle. We saw increased traction from our existing POS merchants, and are proud to now be working with several new merchants as of the second half of the year, including Farfetch, Gap, H&M and Mulberry. When it comes to offering the highest service levels to merchants globally, supporting high-volume local payment methods and card schemes is critical to optimizing authorization rates and improving shopper engagement. As we have continued our global expansion, we have added Interac debit in Canada and Vipps in Norway to our platform, among a wide range of other local payment methods. Total processed volume increased to €89.0 billion in H2 2018, up 50% year-on-year. Net revenue totaled €192.5 million, up 54% year-on-year, driven by the above-mentioned increased share of full-stack volume, which comes at better net revenue economics. We have continued to successfully grow our team. Of those hired in the second half of 2018, over 50% were in locations outside of our Amsterdam HQ. These hires were made to reinforce our geographic expansion and local merchant support, predominantly in North America and Asia-Pacific. We added 105 FTE in the second half of 2018. While we continued to invest in headcount, overall operating expenses were down 5% vs. H1 2018. The decrease was primarily due to the phasing of some spend categories, including pay out of employee benefits and marketing campaigns. H1 2018 operating expenses also included additional spend in housing costs due to the expansion of our Amsterdam office, as well as IPO-related costs. In the second half of 2018, EBITDA totaled €111.7 million, up 83% yearon-year, with an EBITDA margin of 58% in H2 2018 vs. 49% in H2 2017. Free cash flow (EBITDA-CapEx) was €105.4 million for the second half of 2018, up 104% year-on year. This resulted in free cash flow conversion of 94% for the period, vs. 85% in H2 2017. Net income was €83.0 million, up 90% from H2 2017.
Discussion of financial results
Acceleration of volume growth
We processed €89.0 billion on our platform in the second half of 2018, demonstrating continued growth at scale. This is up 50% year-on-year. Full year 2018 volume was €159.0 billion, up 47% year-on-year. Settled volume (i.e. full-stack including acquiring) increased from 61% for full year 2017 to 70% for full year 2018. This was due to us adding acquiring capabilities in Asia-Pacific and Canada this year as well as POS volume (where we are always the acquirer). Second half POS volume accounted for €10.0 billion, equivalent to 11% of total volume, up 86% year-on-year.
Net revenue growth across regions
Net revenue was €192.5 million in the second half of 2018, up 54% year-on-year. Year on-year growth of net revenue was well diversified across regions, with Asia-Pacific (121%), North America (93%), Europe (46%) and Latin America (25%) all contributing. Europe remains the largest net revenue driver with 65% of total net revenues, down from 69% in H2 2017. Full year 2018 net revenue was €348.9 million, up 60% year-on-year.*
Investments in growth
Total operating expenses were €85.5 million in the second half of 2018, up 28% year-on-year, and representing 44% of H2 2018 net revenue. Total operating expenses for full year 2018 were €175.8 million, up 41% year-on-year from 2017. Employee benefits were €43.5 million in the second half of the year, in line with €43.6 million in the first half, as the cost of increased headcount was offset by the impact of phasing of variable pay. Other operating expenses amounted to €37.3 million in the second half of 2018, down from €42.7 million in the first half. This delta was partly due to lower housing costs, which were negatively impacted by additional spend on our Amsterdam office. Sales and marketing expenses were €9.9 million in the second half of 2018, up 32% year-on-year, and down from €11.4 million in the first half — as the majority of investments in increased brand awareness were made in the first half of the year. Further, there were some IPO-related costs in H1 2018.
EBITDA growth aided by operating expenses phasing
In the second half of 2018, we generated an EBITDA of €111.7 million, up 83% year-on year. Full year 2018 EBITDA totaled €181.9 million, up 83% year-on-year. EBITDA margin increased from 45% in the first half of 2018 to 58% in the second half, due to continued strong net revenue growth and operating expenses impacted by phasing of some spend categories. Full year 2018 EBITDA margin was 52%.
Strong net income growth
Net income for the second half of 2018 was €83.0 million, up from €48.2 million in the first half of the year, and up 90% year-on-year. Full year 2018 net income was up 84% from 2017, and totaled €131.1 million.
High free cash flow conversion
Free cash flow was €105.4 million in the second half of 2018, up from €62.7 million in the first half. Full year 2018 free cash flow was €168.1 million, up 90% year-on-year. Free cash flow conversion ratio ((EBITDA-CapEx)/EBITDA) was 94% for the second half of the year, and 92% for full year 2018.
* On a constant currency basis, FY 2018 revenue of €1,652.9m would have been approximately 3% higher than reported. Please refer to Note 1 of Interim Condensed Consolidated Financial statements for further detail on revenue breakdown.
Financial objectives*
We have set the following financial objectives, which remain unchanged from our IPO prospectus.
Net revenue growth: We aim to continue to grow net revenue and achieve a CAGR between the mid-twenties and low-thirties in the medium term by executing our sales strategy.
EBITDA margin: We aim to improve EBITDA margin, and expect this margin to benefit from our operational leverage going forward and increase to levels above 55% in the long-term.
Capital expenditure: We aim to maintain a sustainable capital expenditure level of up to 5% of our net revenue.
Earnings call and webcast
We will host our earnings call at 15.00 CET (09.00 ET) today (February 27) to discuss these results.
To listen to a live audio webcast, please visit our Investor Relations page at adyen.com/ir, where you can find a link. A recording will be available on the website following the call. As an addendum to this letter, please find attached our H2 2018 financial results and three one-page updates on our growth pillars (Enterprise, Unified Commerce, Mid-market).
Sincerely,
Pieter van der Does
CEO
Ingo Uytdehaage
CFO
*Adyen has not defined, and does not intend to define, “medium-term” or “longterm”. Adyen’s medium-term and long-term financial objectives should not be read as forecasts, projections or expected results and should not be read as indicating that Adyen is targeting such metrics for any particular year, but are merely objectives that result from Adyen’s pursuit of its strategy. Adyen’s ability to meet its medium-term and long-term objectives is based upon the assumption that Adyen will be successful in executing its strategy and, furthermore, depends on the accuracy of a number of assumptions involving factors that are significantly or entirely beyond Adyen ‘s control and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may result in Adyen being unable to achieve these objectives.
Enterprise
This segment has historically been our key growth driver, and we saw a continuation of this in the second half of 2018.
Enterprise volume evolution, including share of total processed volume on the platform (%) in EUR billions. Note that 2017 numbers represent total processed volume
Unified Commerce
We continue to see strong growth in this space due to the strength of our offering, and are now expanding into new verticals.
POS volume evolution, including share of total processed volume on the platform (%) in EUR billions
Mid-market
We are seeing some good early signs in the mid-market, which we view as the next-adjacent segment to enterprise.
Mid-market volume evolution, including share of total processed volume on the platform (%) in EUR billions. Please note that in 2017 we did not differentiate mid-market volume
Interim Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
Disclaimer: Certain statements made in the Shareholder Letter and the related earnings call are not historical facts, including, without limitation, certain statements made of future expectations and other forward-looking statements that are based on management’s current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of Adyen in the Shareholder Letter and/or the related earnings call speak only as of the date they are made, and, Adyen assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information or for any other reason.
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