Photo / Tim Greenway
WEX President and CEO Melissa Smith reported today that the company's first quarter revenues increased 8% to $381.9 million in the first quarter, compared to $354 million for the same period a year ago.
May 2, 2019
WEX posts strong Q1 sales, expects ‘ramping up’ of profitability as year progresses
By James McCarthy
WEX Inc., the Portland-based global corporate payments company, today reported an 8% increase in revenues for the first quarter to $381.9 million, compared to $354 million for the same period a year ago.
The $27.8 million revenue increase in the quarter resulted in a Q1 earnings-per-share of $1.72, which beat the analysts’ estimate of $1.69, according to StreetInsider.com. The $381.9 million total revenue for the quarter also beat the consensus estimate of $379.63 million, StreetInsider reported.
In a telephone interview with Mainebiz this morning, WEX President and CEO Melissa Smith said the company beat its own revenue and earnings targets for the first quarter, which she attributed to “strong execution” by WEX employees in the company’s fleet card, travel and corporate payments and health and employee benefits divisions.
“It does help having three legs to the stool,” Smith said regarding the 22% Q1 revenue increase for the travel and corporate payments division and the 19% Q1 revenue increase for health and employee benefits, which mitigated the modest 1% revenue increase in the fleet card division.
Smith said the fleet division’s revenues were held back by lower fuel prices in the first quarter. But she expects fleet revenues will rebound in the second quarter as WEX completes its integration of Shell’s full portfolio of commercial fleet cards in the United States and Canada, resulting from an agreement announced last June, and the Chevron portfolios announced last November. Recent acquisitions in corporate payments and health also are expected to boost revenues in the second quarter.
"As we gain increasing benefit from the contributions of these activities, we expect to see our growth and profitability ramp as we progress through 2019,” she said. “We have set a strong foundation for growth this quarter and look forward to continuing this momentum through the remainder of the year and beyond."
For the full year 2019, WEX expects revenue in the range of $1.705 billion to $1.745 billion and adjusted net income in the range of $399 million to $416 million, or $9.10 to $9.50 per diluted share. For the second quarter of 2019, it expects revenue in the range of $438 million to $443 million and adjusted net income in the range of $97 million to $100 million, or $2.22 to $2.28 per diluted share.
Move to Portland headquarters completed
Smith said the relocation of roughly 400 employees from South Portland to WEX’s new global headquarters project on Portland’s eastern waterfront is now complete. “It’s a validating feeling for us — being here,” she said of the new 102,000-square-foot office building at 1 Hancock St.
With summer on the horizon, Smith said the company is continuing to see strong interest in its paid internship program, with 5,000 applications being submitted for 92 openings. The internship program, she said, has proven to be a great way “to bring new talent” into the company, as some of those interns end up applying for full-time jobs once they complete college.
As WEX continues to grow — it now has more than 4,600 employees worldwide, including 1,500 working in its offices in South Portland and Portland — Smith said talent acquisition becomes even more important. In meeting that challenge, she said, the company makes sure the “value proposition” of living and working in Maine is a key element of the conversation with prospective employees.
In mid-morning trading, shares of WEX traded at $203.21, down 2.29% from Wednesday’s closing price.
WEX (NYSE:WEX) is Maine’s third-largest publicly traded company (behind Covetrus and IDEXX Laboratories), with reported annual sales of $1.25 billion in 2018.
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