Worldline Increases Cash: Challenges and Opportunities in Focus

The French payment expert Worldline has successfully completed a refinancing measure that brings higher interest costs but provides urgently needed liquidity to repay upcoming debts. After the company, with technological roots at Atos SE, had to issue several profit warnings in recent months, it is now attracting investors with a new five-year bond offering that yields 5.375%. The new bond offering, which met with strong interest and generated bids over 1.9 billion euros, is intended to support both operational purposes and the repayment of convertible bonds maturing in 2025 and 2026. Given a challenging year and a share price that has lost more than half its value, these bonds seem unlikely to be converted into shares. Soomit Datta, an analyst at New Street, sees the company as a "long-standing payment service provider" in a highly competitive market. With 1.9 billion euros in debts maturing over the next three years, Worldline faces significant challenges. As recently as last week, the bond sale was discussed with a possible coupon of 5.5%, while the average yield on a Bloomberg index for Triple B-rated names stands at 3.35%. The recent price increase of Worldline bonds, maturing in July 2025, reflects increased investor confidence.