Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 26, 2025
3 min readLast updated: January 25, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleWorldline shares dropped 15% after a revenue miss. New CEO Pierre-Antoine Vacheron will provide a strategic update in April. The fintech sector faces challenges with low valuations.
By Gianluca Lo Nostro, Alessandro Parodi and Florence Loeve
PARIS/GDANSK (Reuters) - Shares in Worldline fell 15% after the French digital payments company reported on Wednesday yearly revenues slightly below analysts' estimates and said its newly appointed CEO would issue a more detailed outlook later in the year.
Pierre-Antoine Vacheron was named CEO, effective March 1, late Tuesday, replacing Gilles Grapinet, who left at the end of a disappointing year marked by multiple profit warnings.
Worldline's shares are trading near record lows after hitting all-time highs during the pandemic, as consumers increasingly resumed making physical payments rather than relying on digital transactions.
At 0856 GMT the shares were down 15% at 6.3 euros ($6.61).
While annual results were disappointing, the choice of an external CEO was positive, J.P. Morgan said.
Vacheron, previously head of Natixis Payments, a unit of French bank BPCE, will present his strategic plan in the autumn, the company said.
"2024 was a year of transformation and refocusing. In 2025, we're getting ready to bounce back," Worldline's CFO Gregory Lambertie told journalists in a post-earnings call.
Worldline expects 2025 revenue growth in line with last year and will give an update along with its first-quarter results on April 23.
"We see these targets as conservative, which should give significant leeway for the new CEO for further restructuring", Stifel analysts said in a note.
Annual revenue edged up 0.5% to 4.63 billion euros ($4.87 billion) last year, missing the 4.64 billion euros analysts on average had expected in a company compiled poll. Worldline had cut its growth forecast to around 1% in September.
SECTOR STRUGGLES
The Paris-based fintech is one of Europe's biggest payments service providers but has underperformed Dutch rival Adyen which has a bigger global footprint and partnerships with e-commerce giants that have driven its growth.
As the sector struggles with low valuations more companies are teaming up to drive growth.
Worldline will soon launch a payments venture with Credit Agricole. French lender BNP Paribas will team up with BPCE to create a similar payment processor called Estreem, aiming for card payments leadership in France.
"We do not expect material impact of that venture on our business", Lambertie said in a call with analyst.
($1 = 0.9528 euros)
(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro and Alessandro Parodi in Gdansk; and Florence Loève in Paris; Editing by Richard Chang and Elaine Hardcastle)
Worldline's shares fell 15% after the company reported yearly revenues slightly below analysts' estimates.
Pierre-Antoine Vacheron was appointed as the new CEO of Worldline, effective March 1.
Worldline expects revenue growth in line with last year and will provide an update along with its first-quarter results on April 23.
Analysts from J.P. Morgan viewed the choice of an external CEO positively, despite the disappointing annual results.
Worldline plans to launch a payments venture with Credit Agricole and is collaborating with BNP Paribas to create a payment processor called Estreem.
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