Worldline shares suffered one of the steepest declines of the SBF 120 index on the Paris Bourse on Monday, penalized by the downgrading of HSBC's analysts' recommendation.

Shortly before 5:00 p.m., the payment technology specialist's shares fell by more than 3%, while the SBF 120 index limited its decline to 0.7%.

Despite a valuation that has undeniably reached rock-bottom levels, we are no longer as confident that a favorable scenario for the stock will materialize", explains the broker.

In its view, the Group is facing structural difficulties that cannot be resolved in the medium term, and this points to another lacklustre performance this year, with weak growth, little improvement in margins and rare progress in free cash flow.

He also fears the emergence of governance problems due to growing pressure from activist investors.

At the same time, the company's heavy balance sheet is raising fears of higher financing costs, adds the broker, who is also concerned about a significant amount of intangible assets and the risk of asset write-downs, notably linked to Ingenico.

Worldline's share price collapsed by more than 60% last year, due in particular to a severe earnings warning that caused the group's market capitalization to plummet and led to its removal from the CAC 40 index.

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