Struggling French payment firm Worldline plans to raise €500 million in fresh equity to support a turnaround programme aimed at restoring cash flow generation.
Driven by a new leadership team, the overhaul will involve final platforms convergence entailing the decommissioning of five platforms, integration and automation of operations, simplification of the organisation, and a renewed focus on commercial performance.
The company says it aims to achieve free cash flow (FCF) generation by 2027 and is targeting €300m to €350m FCF by 2030.
The contemplated capital increase of €500 million will be anchored by Worldline’s strategic investors, Bpifrance, Crédit Agricole SA and BNP Paribas.
Notably missing from that list is continued support from Swiss market operator SIX, which has downgraded its 10.5% stake from a 'strategic' to a 'financial investment', indicating that it is no longer willing to throw good money over bad.
As part of its disengagement from Worldline, SIX is also assuming full control of the firm's electronic data management business (formerly Cetrel Securities).
The offloading of the business forms part of a move by Worldline to refocus on its core payment activities and follows agreements to divest its Mobility & e-Transactional Services in July and its North American operations in October. The combined cash proceeds of these three divestments are expected in the range of €350-400m.
To "restore trust" in the business, the firm has also agreed to an external review of the merchants portfolio and compliance & risk framework and the clarification of cash pooling arrangements.
This follows multiple media allegations that the French payments processor covered up historic client fraud to protect revenue, leading to a 20% drop in its share price in June.
Investors will still feel the pain in the immediate future. Worldline states: "We anticipate low single digit revenue growth at Group level. 2026 Adjusted EBITDA, while benefiting from the initial savings of the transformation plan, is expected to be slightly lower than the 2025 low point of the guidance range, impacted by increased remediation costs and a still unfavourable business mix. Free cash flow in 2026 is expected to be around the lower end of the guidance for 2025, with transformation costs, increased costs of debt and higher tax."