Adyen H2 2024: Earnings and Shareholder Letter Summary
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Welcome Explorer!
Another busy week with some interesting earnings reports from companies I follow closely.
Before dropping my Monthly Specials for February (coming tomorrow!), I’m continuing my earnings reviews with Adyen’s H2 2024 report and shareholder letter released today. Also, if you're interested, I took some notes this morning on Norbit ASA’s Q4 2024 results—a Norwegian Hidden Gem I already featured in my Second Edition of these series 📎 (link to notes).
Now, back to Adyen—this company has been on a strong comeback since its 2023 dip, and as I highlighted in my 📎 Christmas Special: TOP 5 Picks for 2025, it was primed for a big 2025. So far, it has not disappointed and it’s up +25% YTD.
Adyen looks determined to achieve Visa or Mastercard-like margins in the long run. Let’s dive in!
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Financial Highlights
Strong Revenue Growth & Market Expansion 🚂
H2 Revenue: €1.08B, up 22% YoY (in-line).
Full-Year Revenue: €1.99B, up 23% YoY.
Processed Volume: €1.29T, up 33% YoY (27% excluding one large customer).
Point-of-Sale Volume: €232.7B, up 46% YoY, strong physical retail growth.
Profitability & Margins 🟢
H2 EBITDA: €569.2M (vs €541M est.), up 35% YoY, with a 53% EBITDA margin.
Full-Year EBITDA: €992.3M, up 34% YoY, with an improved 50% margin (vs. 46% in 2023).
Free Cash Flow Conversion: 87% for FY24, with CapEx at 5% of revenue.
Take rate: 16.2 bps (stable vs. 16.3bps in H2 2023 and recovering nicely from 14.7bps 1H24) 👌
📌 CFO Ethan Tandowsky on financial discipline:
"Our focus remains on sustainable growth, investing in the business while maintaining operational efficiency. Expanding our share of wallet with existing customers continues to drive strong, profitable performance."
Growth Drivers: Expanding Across Markets & Verticals
Enterprise Growth & Share of Wallet Expansion
Deepening partnerships with large enterprises continues to pay off.
EMEA revenue growth at 27% YoY, further room for expansion even in mature markets 🟢
North America grew 21% YoY, reinforcing Adyen’s "double-down" approach in a highly competitive region 👉 Probably taking market share from PayPal
APAC & LATAM each saw 12% YoY growth, with Brazil's Pix integration unlocking new opportunities.
📌 CEO Pieter van der Does on market penetration:
"We are still in the early innings of realizing our full market opportunity, even in our most established regions. This speaks to the scale of what lies ahead."
Payments Optimization
Adyen Uplift, an AI-powered payment funnel optimization tool, increased conversion rates by up to 6% in initial pilots.
Intelligent Payment Routing for US Debit helped enterprise customers reduce costs by 26% while improving authorization rates (+22bps increase).
📌 Tandowsky on AI integration:
"AI is embedded into our platform at every level, enabling smarter payments, fraud prevention, and cost efficiencies at scale."
Unified Commerce & Embedded Finance 👀
Adyen processed record Black Friday volumes of $34B with 99.999% uptime.
Platforms remained the fastest-growing segment, with Embedded Financial Products (EFP) volumes up 258% YoY.
📌 van der Does on platform scalability:
"Payments are no longer just a function—they are a strategic enabler for revenue growth. Businesses are recognizing that, and they are choosing Adyen as their partner."
Key Customer Wins & Industry Expansion
Adyen continued to win high-profile enterprise clients across multiple sectors:
Digital & Subscriptions
Strengthened partnership with Adobe, expanding across North America.
Intuit integrated Adyen for UK payments.
Retail & Food & Beverage
KFC APAC expanded its Unified Commerce partnership to include e-commerce payments alongside in-store transactions. Seamless cross-channel checkout reduced purchase abandonment rates.
Financial Services & Insurance
Tokio Marine & ModMed chose Adyen to power secure, regulatory-compliant payments.
📌 van der Does on customer adoption:
"Our partnerships this half reflect both deepening relationships in core verticals and exciting new opportunities beyond our traditional markets."
Outlook, Long-Term Investments & Global Expansion
2025 Outlook: Expecting a slight acceleration in annual net revenue and further EBITDA margin expansion (already at +53% EBITDA margin 👀) 🚂
Scaling Presence in Key Markets
Expand offices in San Francisco & Chicago, reinforcing USA commitment
Entered India, securing a Reserve Bank of India license for cross-border and domestic payments 👉 Could be a new growth driver with high-potential 👀
📌 van der Does on India opportunity:
"India’s rapid transition to digital payments presents an enormous growth opportunity. We are committed to navigating its regulatory environment to become a leader in the region."
Hiring & Infrastructure Expansion
Slower net hiring growth keeping a high talent bar, focusing on strategic roles.
Increased data center investments to support scalability & AI-powered transaction processing.
📌 Tandowsky on talent strategy:
"We hire deliberately. Scaling our team the right way is just as important as scaling our technology."
🧠 Final Take
Adyen’s H2 2024 results reinforces with more conviction the rebound from its 2023 slowdown, shifting into cruise mode with steady revenue growth, expanding margins, and continued enterprise payment dominance.
Its ability to strengthen customer relationships, optimize at scale, and expand globally makes its long-term market position stronger. Even in mature markets (EMEA), there’s room to grow, while new opportunities in APAC, LATAM, and India are primed for more upside.
As CEO Pieter van der Does puts it:
"We set out to build Adyen to someday power every payment. Today, our infrastructure is on its way to becoming the backbone of the world’s most seamless transactions—online, in-store, and everywhere in between."
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