Nexi’s merchant-payment transaction count rose 5.6% in the first half of 2026, but revenue from Merchant Solutions fell 0.8% to €976 million, according to results released today (Wednesday). At group level, revenue increased 1.0% to €1.74 billion, while second-quarter EBITDA declined 1.9%.

Nexi, a Milan-listed payments processor, attributed the difference to lost Italian banking clients following mergers, contract renegotiations, weaker consumer spending and economic softness in Germany. On a company-defined underlying basis that excludes bank losses and other contract effects, group revenue grew 5%.

Nexi retained its 2026 targets for revenue growth broadly in line with 2025, stable EBITDA and about €750 million of excess cash generation.

Payment Volumes Outrun Revenue

Merchant Solutions, which generated 56% of group revenue, processed 10.23 billion transactions during the six months. Their combined value increased 3.0% to €423 billion, compared with the 0.8% decline in reported segment revenue.

Nexi said underlying Merchant Solutions revenue grew 3% after excluding the effects of lost banks and contract renegotiations. The segment’s second-quarter revenue was nearly unchanged at €522 million, down 0.2% from a year earlier.

The difference was also visible in Issuing Solutions. Transaction numbers increased 8.6% to 11.31 billion and their value rose 7.2% to €480 billion, while segment revenue advanced 3.0% to €571 million.

Customer and channel mix can move payment volumes and revenue in different directions. Adyen reported the reverse pattern for the first half of 2025, when its net revenue grew 20% despite a 5% rise in processed volume that the company attributed partly to one large customer.

Wise reported a 26% increase in quarterly cross-border payment volume in April 2026. Wise specializes in cross-border transfers, while Nexi’s businesses include merchant acquiring and card issuing, so their volume and revenue measures are not directly comparable.

Cash Generation Beats Analyst Estimate

Revenue and EBITDA were close to the €1.733 billion and €868 million estimates in Nexi’s company-published analyst consensus. Excess cash generation exceeded the €324 million consensus by about 23%.

Nexi reported €115 million of net profit, compared with normalized net profit of €354 million. Its reconciliation removed €218 million of depreciation and amortization adjustments, primarily related to customer contracts, along with other non-recurring items.

Second-quarter costs rose 4.2% to €442 million, compared with the 1.0% increase in revenue. This reduced the quarterly EBITDA margin to 51.7% from 53.3% a year earlier.

At PayPal, shares fell more than 20% after a weaker quarter prompted a leadership change in February.

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“Our financial discipline and strong cash position enabled us to reduce debt,” Nexi CEO Bernardo Mingrone said.

The company repaid about €1 billion of debt maturities and distributed approximately €350 million in dividends during the half. Net debt stood at €5.10 billion, or 2.7 times EBITDA, after Nexi completed its transaction with Banca Popolare di Sondrio.

Digital Euro and Instant Payments Support Banking Revenue

Digital Banking Solutions produced the fastest segment growth. Revenue increased 4.5% to €189 million in the half and 6.0% to €100 million in the second quarter.

Nexi attributed the increase to SEPA clearing, open banking, network services and Italy’s PagoPA system. It also named its digital euro offline work, the Zippay account-to-account service for Irish banks and Verification of Payee services as contributing initiatives, without disclosing their individual revenue.

Finance Magnates first reported Nexi’s participation in a European Central Bank digital euro exercise in 2022. The ECB selected Nexi Payments this month as one of 36 payment service providers for a new pilot, where Nexi will participate as an acquiring provider.

Verification of Payee has become part of the infrastructure required for instant euro transfers. EU payment providers introduced the name-checking service under the Instant Payments Regulation, which affects how brokers and other financial firms process customer deposits and withdrawals.

Nexi kept its full-year targets unchanged, including approximately €750 million of excess cash. It has paid a €0.30-per-share dividend totaling about €350 million and reiterated its commitment to an investment-grade credit rating.

This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

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