With weeks to go before its “go private” deal, Verifone reported earnings Friday that showed mixed results.
Net revenues were $438 million. Gross margins were 41.2 percent, compared to respective $478 million at 42.2 percent.
Net income was 25 cents a share, three pennies below the Street.
A statement by CEO Paul Galant that accompanied results said that “we exceeded our revenue guidance for our second fiscal quarter due to continuing execution of our top three strategic priorities: scaling Verifone’s next-generation devices, connecting more of our 30+ million device footprint to Verifone’s cloud-based services, and leveraging our leadership position at the point-of-sale with value-added services that help merchants start, run, and grow their businesses.” He continued, “As we announced in April, we entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an investor group led by Francisco Partners, a leading technology-focused private equity firm. We look forward to benefiting from the resources and expertise of Francisco Partners as we continue growing our business and better serving our clients.”
In the latest quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 8, the company revealed that systems revenue was $258 million, down from $285 million last year.
Services stood at $179.8 million, off from $188 million.
Breaking down results by geography, North American sales were off $34 million to $122.9 million, down from $157 million. The company said in the filing that the decrease was tied to the divestiture of the taxi solutions business, and also from the decrease demand for the EMV hardware in the wake of a prior year shift to EMV.
Separately, EMEA and Latin America revenues were up by roughly by $5 million and more than $21 million respectively, to $182 million and $84 million. The company said in the filing that government e-payment initiatives in Brazil and Argentina spurred demand.
As noted earlier in this space, Verifone said last month that the “go shop” period under the terms of its merger agreement with Vertex Holdco expired, paving the way for Verifone to be acquired by the latter in a deal that takes the payments giant private to the tune of a total cash and debt consideration of $3.4 billion. The “go shop” period produced 42 possible buyers.