FleetCor To Buy Cambridge Global Payments For $675M

In the wake of a series of negative reports by Citron Research about FleetCor Technologies, the workforce payments company, and positive reports from sell-side firms, the company said Monday that revenues for the first quarter were up 25 percent, ahead of expectations. Adjusted for commissions, that growth rate came in at 29 percent. Transactions across North America were up 9 percent to $474 billion. The fuel card business saw 8 percent transaction growth to 114 million.

Looking at the quarter, the firm said that earnings per share were $1.96, better than the Street by nine pennies. The top line for the quarter came in at $520 million, compared to the $515 million the Street expected. Organic revenue growth came in at 10 percent, the firm stated.

Guidance for the current fiscal year earnings came in at $8.21 to $8.41, bracketing the $8.24 estimate. In addition, revenues are slated to be $2.17 billion to $2.24 billion, up slightly above the prior higher end vs. the $2.21 billion consensus.

In addition, the firm said it would buy B2B international payments outfit Cambridge Global Payments for $675 million. Seeking Alpha reported Cambridge processes about $20 billion in annual payments. The acquiring company, FleetCor, stated that the deal will boost earnings once it closes.