nexi (the former CartaSì) crossed the finish line of 2017 with revenues of 855,9 million (+6,6% net of acquisitions made during the year) and Ebitda at 303,9 million (+18,5% organic growth). Net profit for the year amounted to 79,1 million, down from 104 million in 2016, "due to the effect of the extraordinary investments made to accelerate the implementation of the business plan", explains the group.
But the big news of the last few days is that the Nexi group has received the green light from the Bank of Italy and the ECB to the corporate reorganization which envisages the separation between the activities related to the world of payments and those of a strictly banking nature (Securities Services and Mediation Services). It is a key step in the reorganization which will become operational from July and which should allow Nexi to focus even more on its role as Paytech and, at the same time, to create the first Italian custodian bank.
In recent days, the declarations of Fabrizio Viola, the former CEO of Mps, had also made headlines, who reported that he is the president in pectore of the new bank that will arise from the separation. On the basis of this new corporate structure and the improvement in the rating, Nexi has decided to refinance the debt, contracted over the years by the shareholders (Advent International, Bain Capital and Clessidra), at more advantageous conditions, through a new bond issue of 2,6 billion which will fully refund all previous issues.
And to expand its digital payments business, Nexi announced on April 18 last year the acquisition of the startup Sparkling 18, Italian fintech that has been operating since 2013 in the new digital payments sector. The operation will allow Nexi to accelerate the development plan of solutions payment via smartphone: according to Nexi, the omnichannel payments market will be worth 20-25 billion euros a year by 2025.
