Global Payments CEO says Q1 best in four years

"We are pleased to have delivered our best first quarter in four years, exceeding our expectations to start 2023," said Jeff Sloan, CEO. "Both of our key businesses posted exceptional results. Our merchant business proved highly resilient as we saw accelerated growth across a number of worldwide markets and ongoing stability despite incremental macroeconomic distractions. And our core issuer business improved 340 basis points sequentially and delivered its highest rate of year-over-year growth in more than five years. This performance reflects the wisdom of our long term strategies and our consistent focus on execution. We accomplished these results while turning the page on the strategic initiatives we have been executing over the last 12 plus months. First, we are delighted to have closed our acquisition of EVO Payments in late March, and we are off to a strong start with our integration activities. Second, we are pleased to announce the successful closing of the sale of our Netspend consumer business in late April. Third, we completed the divestiture of the Gaming Solutions business immediately following the end of the first quarter. These transactions serve to better align our businesses with our strategy, simplify our portfolio, sharpen our focus on core corporate clients and provide us with enhanced confidence in our growth and margin targets. We are delighted to raise our outlook for the full year following the outstanding financial and operating performance we produced in the first quarter."