Eye on Acquiring: Nuvei and Priority Post Revenue Bumps

Merchant acquirers continue to reap the benefits of a bustling economy. Nuvei Corp., a Montreal-based acquirer, said its payments volume increased 38% in the second quarter, and Alpharetta, Ga.-based Priority Technology Holdings Inc. said its bank card processing volume increased 14.3% in the quarter.

Nuvei said its payments volume topped $30.1 billion, up from $21.9 billion in the second quarter of 2021. E-commerce represented 87% of that volume. Nuvei has made inroads in capturing share in the online-gaming segment. In July, Nuvei completed an integration with GAN Ltd., enabling its gaming operators to access Nuvei’s payments services. Its online gaming revenue increased 22% in the quarter over the same period a year ago.

Nuvei called out its online gaming revenue at an approximately $25 million run rate. Revenue run rate uses a company’s revenue in a certain period to extrapolate a full-year equivalent, says the Corporate Finance Institute. “In terms of Nuvei’s progress in North America, its online-gaming revenue run-rate is now approximately $25 million and is on pace to deliver $100 million of annual run-rate revenue,” Nuvei says.

For the quarter, Nuvei posted revenue of $211.3 million, an 18.6% increase from $178.2 million a year ago. Its net income of $35.1 million dipped from $38.9 million last year. Nuvei attributed that primarily to $27.2 million in share-based payments to employees recently brought on via acquisitions.

At Priority, merchant bank card volume increased 14.3% in the second quarter, going from $14 billion to $16 billion. Its small and midsize business segment had the highest volume in the 2022 second quarter at $15.4 billion. The enterprise and business-to-business payments segments followed, at $387.3 million and $155.5 million, respectively.

Overall, Priority posted revenue of $166.4 million in the quarter, up 33.1% from $125 million a year ago. It reversed a 2021 quarterly loss of $9.5 million to a $287,000 profit this year.