Business
Global Payments Reports First Quarter 2026 Results
ATLANTA, May 06, 2026--Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN) today announced results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026.
About this update from Global Payments Inc.
ATLANTA, May 06, 2026 --( BUSINESS WIRE )--Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN) today announced results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026. "Our first quarter performance reflects the early momentum of Global Payments as a focused, pure-play commerce solutions leader," said Cameron Bready, chief executive officer. "We have established a differentiated company with compelling scale, deep capabilities, and exceptional talent, and our execution this quarter reinforces our confidence in the opportunities ahead." Bready continued, "Since the beginning of the year, our teams have moved with urgency to advance the integration of Worldpay, expand the reach of Genius, and accelerate our most important strategic initiatives, while maintaining disciplined execution across the business." Bready concluded, "The acquisition of Worldpay is accelerating our transformation and sharpening our strategic focus. With clear priorities and a strong foundation in place, we are positioned to deliver sustained growth, increasing returns, and meaningful value creation for shareholders over the long term." First Quarter 2026 Summary 2026 Outlook "We are pleased with our financial performance in the first quarter, which exceeded our expectations," said Josh Whipple, chief financial officer. "In the midst of an evolving macroeconomic environment, our results highlight the advantages of our diversified business model and our unmatched worldwide distribution." Whipple continued, "For the full year 2026, we continue to expect normalized 1 , constant currency adjusted net revenue growth of approximately 5% and adjusted earnings per share of $13.80 to $14.00. We continue to expect normalized 1 adjusted operating margin expansion of approximately 150 basis points for the full year 2026." Whipple concluded, "Following the completion of the acquisition of Worldpay and sale of Issuer Solutions, we are focused on executing our value creation initiatives and advancing our commitment to return capital to shareholders." Financial Reporting Considerations for Issuer Solutions Transaction Effective in the second quarter of 2025, the company began accounting for the Issuer Solutions business as discontinued operations as a result of the announced divestiture to Fidelity National Information Services. Issuer Solutions continued to operate as a business of Global Payments until closing; accordingly, our non-GAAP financial measures reflect total company performance. Capital Allocation The company is entering into a $500 million accelerated share repurchase plan. The company expects to return over $2 billion to shareholders through repurchases and dividends in 2026, including the $500 million accelerated share repurchase plan announced today. Global Payments’ Board of Directors approved a dividend of $0.25 per share payable on June 26, 2026 to shareholders of record as of June 12, 2026. Conference Call Global Payments’ management will host a live audio webcast today, May 6, 2026, at 8:00 a.m. ET to discuss financial results and business highlights. The audio webcast, along with supplemental financial information, can be accessed via the investor relations page of the company’s website at investors.globalpayments.com. A replay of the audio webcast will be archived on the company's website following the live event. Non-GAAP Financial Measures Global Payments supplements its reporting of revenue, operating income, operating margin, net income, earnings per share, free cash flow, and free cash flow conversion with certain non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP financial measures include adjusted revenue, adjusted operating income, adjusted operating margin, adjusted net income, and adjusted earnings per share, adjusted free cash flow, and adjusted free cash flow conversion. The constant currency growth measures adjust for the impact of exchange rates and are calculated using average exchange rates during the comparable period in the prior year. We believe these non-GAAP financial measures assist investors with evaluating the performance of our business. Management uses these non-GAAP financial measures to focus on the factors that it believes are relevant to managing our business, operations, and performance. Any non-GAAP financial measures should be considered in context with our reporting in accordance with GAAP and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for GAAP measures. Reconciliation of each non-GAAP financial measure to the most directly comparable GAAP measure is included in the schedules to this release, except for forward-looking measures where a reconciliation to the corresponding GAAP measures is not available due to the variability, complexity and limited visibility of the items that are excluded from the non-GAAP outlook measures. The company is unable to address the probable significance of the unavailable information. About Global Payments Global Payments (NYSE: GPN) is a leading payment technology and software company that powers commerce for businesses of all sizes worldwide. We help businesses grow with confidence by delivering innovative solutions that enable seamless payment acceptance, smarter operations and exceptional client experiences – online, in store and everywhere in between. With its global reach, local expertise and scale, Global Payments manages trillions in payments volume and billions of transactions across more than 175 countries. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Global Payments is a Fortune 500® company and a member of the S&P 500. Learn more at company.globalpayments.com. Forward-Looking Statements This earnings release and associated webcast contain forward-looking statements, which are made pursuant to the "safe-harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements we make regarding our business strategy and means to implement the strategy; measures of future financial performance or results of operations; operating metrics such as shares outstanding and capital expenditures; liquidity and deleveraging plans and capital available for allocation; the strategic rationale and anticipated benefits of acquisitions or dispositions, including our acquisition of Worldpay and divestiture of our Issuer Solutions business; the development and introduction of new services and expansion of our business; and the company’s plans, objectives, expectations and intentions. Statements can generally be identified as forward-looking because they include words such as "believes," "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "anticipates," "projects," "estimates," "forecast," "budget," "could," "should," "may," "will," "would," or words of similar meaning. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about our business and the industry and geographies in which we operate, and on the beliefs of, and assumptions made by, our management. Although we believe that the plans and expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, actual events, outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in forward-looking statements. Accordingly, we cannot guarantee or give assurance that our plans and expectations will be achieved. In addition to factors previously disclosed in Global Payments’ reports filed with the SEC and those identified elsewhere in this communication, the following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements or historical performance: difficulties and delays in integrating the Worldpay business into that of Global Payments; failing to fully realize anticipated cost savings and other anticipated benefits of the acquisition of Worldpay, either when expected or at all; business disruptions from the acquisition of Worldpay that may harm our business or operations; failing to comply with the applicable requirements of Visa, Mastercard or other payment networks or card schemes or changes in those requirements; our ability to retain and hire key personnel; uncertainty as to the long-term value of our common stock following the acquisition of Worldpay, including the dilution caused by issuance of additional shares of Global Payments’ common stock in connection with the acquisition of Worldpay; the continued availability of capital and financing; the effects of global economic, political, market, health and social events or other conditions; the imposition of tariffs and other trade policies and the resulting impacts on market volatility and global trade; macroeconomic pressures and general uncertainty regarding the overall future economic environment; foreign currency exchange, inflation and rising interest rate risks; the effect of a security breach or operational failure on our business; the ability to maintain Visa and Mastercard registration and financial institution sponsorship; increased competition in the markets in which we operate; our ability to safeguard our data; risks associated with our indebtedness; the effects of new or changes in current laws, regulations, credit card association rules or other industry standards on us or our partners and customers; and other events beyond our control, and other factors included in the "Risk Factors" section in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in other documents that we file with the SEC, which are available at https://www.sec.gov . These cautionary statements qualify all of our forward-looking statements, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and should not be relied upon as representing our plans and expectations as of any subsequent date. While we may elect to update or revise forward-looking statements at some time in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation and do not intend to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements, except as required by law. NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES Global Payments supplements revenues, operating income, operating margin and net income, and earnings per share (EPS) determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP by providing these measures with certain adjustments (such measures being non-GAAP financial measures) in this document to assist with evaluating our performance. In addition to GAAP measures, management uses these non-GAAP financial measures to focus on the factors the company believes are pertinent to the daily management of our operations. The constant currency growth measures adjust for the impact of exchange rates and are calculated using average exchange rates during the comparable period in the prior year. Management uses these non-GAAP financial measures, together with other metrics, to set goals for and measure the performance of the business and to determine incentive compensation. Adjusted net revenue, adjusted operating income, adjusted operating margin, and adjusted EPS should be considered in addition to, and not as substitutes for, revenues, operating income, and EPS determined in accordance with GAAP. The non-GAAP financial measures reflect management's judgment of particular items, and may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. Adjusted net revenue excludes gross-up related payments associated with certain lines of business to reflect economic benefits to the company. On a GAAP basis, these payments are presented gross in both revenues and operating expenses. Management believes adjusted net revenue more closely reflects the economic benefits to the company's core business and allows for better comparisons with industry peers. Adjusted operating income, adjusted net income and adjusted EPS exclude acquisition-related amortization expense, acquisition, integration, separation and transformation expense, gains or losses on business dispositions, and certain other items specific to each reporting period as more fully described in the accompanying reconciliations in Schedule 5. In addition depreciation expense of certain acquired technology assets is also excluded, as it is a noncash expense and, based on its nature, is impacted by future integration initiatives. Excluding such depreciation expense supplements GAAP information with a measure that can be used to assess the comparability of operating performance across periods, as such assets were recognized as part of acquisition accounting. The tax rate used in determining the income tax impact of earnings adjustments is either the jurisdictional statutory rate in effect at the time of the adjustment or the jurisdictional expected annual effective tax rate for the period, depending on the nature and timing of the adjustment. In addition, income taxes on adjustments include the removal of tax charges related to business dispositions. Adjusted operating margin is derived by dividing adjusted operating income by adjusted net revenue. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260506301951/en/ Contacts Investor contact: [email protected] Nathan Rozof Media contact: [email protected] Matt Cochran
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