Returns to Growth in the First Quarter of 2021

Raises 2021 Targets

Reaches Agreement to Acquire Leading Real Estate Technology Provider Zego

Expands European Presence with Agreement to Purchase Wordline’s PAYONE Austrian Acquiring Business

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN) today announced results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021.

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“We returned to growth in the first quarter and delivered the fastest rate of sequential expansion across our markets since the end of 2019," said Jeff Sloan, Chief Executive Officer of Global Payments. "And our performance improved substantially as the quarter progressed with growth in each of our three segments in March. We also continued to deliver on our strategic priorities with today's announcements of our agreements to acquire Zego, a leading property technology company with a comprehensive resident management software and payments platform, and Worldline’s PAYONE Austrian acquiring business.

“We have further widened our competitive moat. With Zego we underscore our distinctive focus on software driven solutions with an emphasis on commerce enablement. With Worldline’s PAYONE Austrian acquiring business, we deepen our presence in the most attractive markets worldwide.”

Sloan concluded, “By combining strategic investments in future growth with our entry into unique relationships with two of the world's largest technology companies, ongoing consistency in execution and our longstanding focus on returning capital efficiently to our shareholders, we are as optimistic today as we have been since prior to the pandemic. We exited the first quarter of 2021 in a better position than we entered it.”

First Quarter 2021 Summary

• GAAP revenues were $1.99 billion, compared to $1.90 billion in the first quarter of 2020; diluted earnings per share were $0.66 compared to $0.48 in the prior year; and operating margin was 13.8% compared to 12.8% in the prior year.
• Adjusted net revenues increased 5% to $1.81 billion, compared to $1.73 billion in the first quarter of 2020.
• Adjusted earnings per share increased 15% to $1.82, compared to $1.58 in the first quarter of 2020.
• Adjusted operating margin of 40.6% expanded 160 basis points.

2021 Outlook

“We are pleased with our financial performance in the first quarter, which demonstrated meaningful sequential momentum,” said Paul Todd, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. “Consistent execution of our technology-enabled strategy resulted in adjusted net revenue growth, adjusted operating margin expansion and double-digit adjusted earnings per share growth during the quarter despite a difficult comparison given the late March onset of COVID-19 last year.

“While achieving these strong results, we have also made substantial progress with our integration activities and remain on track to realize our targeted synergies within three years from the close of the TSYS merger. Specifically, we continue to expect annual run rate revenue synergies to amount to at least $150 million and annual run rate expense synergies to amount to at least $400 million by September 2022.

“We are raising our expectations for full year 2021 adjusted net revenue to be in the range of $7.55 billion to $7.625 billion, reflecting growth of 12% to 13%, and we are increasing our adjusted earnings per share estimate to be in a range of $7.87 to $8.07, or growth of 23% to 26% over 2020.”

Todd concluded, “This outlook presumes we remain on a path toward recovery worldwide over the balance of the year and does not include any impact from the transactions we announced today. We expect the Zego and Worldline Austrian business acquisitions to close by the end of the second quarter and in the second half of 2021, respectively.”

Capital Allocation

Global Payments’ Board of Directors approved a dividend of $0.195 per share payable June 25, 2021 to shareholders of record as of June 11, 2021.

Conference Call

Global Payments’ management will host a live audio webcast today, May 4, 2021, at 8:00 a.m. EDST to discuss financial results and business highlights. All interested parties may access the audio webcast via the investor relations page of the company’s website at investors.globalpaymentsinc.com. A replay of the audio webcast will be archived on the company's website following the live event.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Global Payments supplements revenues, income, operating income, operating margin and earnings per share determined in accordance with GAAP by providing these measures with certain adjustments (such measures being non-GAAP financial measures) in this earnings release to assist with evaluating our performance. In addition to GAAP measures, management uses these non-GAAP financial measures to focus on the factors the company believes are pertinent to the daily management of our operations.

Reconciliations of the non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measure are included in the schedules to this release.

About Global Payments

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN) is a leading pure play payments technology company delivering innovative software and services to our customers globally. Our technologies, services and employee expertise enable us to provide a broad range of solutions that allow our customers to operate their businesses more efficiently across a variety of channels around the world.

Headquartered in Georgia with nearly 24,000 employees worldwide, Global Payments is a member of the S&P 500 with worldwide reach spanning over 100 countries throughout North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. For more information, visit www.globalpayments.com and follow Global Payments on Twitter (@globalpayinc), LinkedIn and Facebook.

Forward-Looking Statements

Investors are cautioned that some of the statements we use in this report contain forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to the "safe-harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements, which are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the industry and markets in which we operate, and beliefs of and assumptions made by our management, involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could significantly affect the financial condition, results of operations, business plans and the future performance of Global Payments. Actual events or results might differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in these forward-looking statements. Accordingly, we cannot guarantee that our plans and expectations will be achieved. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements we make regarding guidance and projected financial results for the year 2021; the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, including estimates of the effects of the pandemic on our revenues, financial operating results and liquidity; the effects of actions taken by us in response to the pandemic; the anticipated benefits of the merger with TSYS (the “Merger’), including the combined company’s plans, objectives, expectations and intentions; timing and completion of anticipated benefits of acquisitions or strategic initiatives; our success and timing in developing and introducing new services; and future financial and operating results. Although we believe the expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our expectations will be attained, and therefore actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in such forward-looking statements.

In addition to factors previously disclosed in Global Payments’ reports filed with the SEC and those identified elsewhere in this communication, the following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements or historical performance: the effects and duration of global economic, political, market, health and social events or other conditions, including the effects and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic; regulatory measures or voluntary actions, including continued or prolonged social distancing, shelter-in-place orders, operating restrictions on nonessential businesses and similar measures imposed or undertaken in an effort to combat the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic; management’s assumptions and projections used in their estimates of the timing and severity of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our future revenues, results of operations and liquidity; our ability to meet our liquidity needs in light of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic; the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against the Company and our directors; difficulties, delays and higher than anticipated costs related to integrating the businesses of Global Payments and TSYS, including with respect to implementing systems to prevent a material security breach of any internal systems or to successfully manage credit and fraud risks in business units; failing to fully realize anticipated cost savings and other anticipated benefits of the Merger when expected or at all; business disruptions from the Merger integration that may harm our business, including current plans and operations; failing to comply with the applicable requirements of Visa, Mastercard or other payment networks or card schemes or changes in those requirements; the ability to maintain Visa and Mastercard registration and financial institution sponsorship; the ability to retain and hire key personnel; the diversion of management’s attention from ongoing business operations; the continued availability of capital and financing; the business, economic and political conditions in the markets in which we operate; increased competition in the markets in which we operate and our ability to increase our market share in existing markets and expand into new markets; our ability to safeguard our data; risks associated with our indebtedness, foreign currency exchange and interest rate risks; the effects of new or changes in current laws, regulations, credit card association rules or other industry standards, including privacy and cybersecurity laws and regulations; and events beyond our control, such as acts of terrorism, and other factors included in the “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, and in other documents that we file with the SEC, which are available at https://www.sec.gov. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this communication or as of the date they were made, and we undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

Global Payments supplements revenues, income, operating income, operating margin and EPS determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP by providing these measures with certain adjustments (such measures being non-GAAP financial measures) in this document to assist with evaluating our performance. In addition to GAAP measures, management uses these non-GAAP financial measures to focus on the factors the company believes are pertinent to the daily management of our operations. Management believes adjusted net revenue more closely reflects the economic benefits to the company's core business and allows for better comparisons with industry peers. Management uses these non-GAAP financial measures, together with other metrics, to set goals for and measure the performance of the business and to determine incentive compensation. Adjusted net revenue, adjusted operating income, adjusted operating margin, adjusted net income and adjusted EPS should be considered in addition to, and not as substitutes for, revenues, operating income, net income and EPS determined in accordance with GAAP. The non-GAAP financial measures reflect management's judgment of particular items, and may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

Adjusted net revenue excludes gross-up related payments associated with certain lines of business to reflect economic benefits to the company. On a GAAP basis, these payments are presented gross in both revenues and operating expenses. Adjusted operating income, adjusted net income and adjusted EPS exclude acquisition-related amortization expense, share-based compensation expense, acquisition and integration expense and certain other items, such as unusual, direct and discrete costs due to the global pandemic, specific to each reporting period as more fully described in the accompanying reconciliations in Schedules 6 and 7. Adjusted operating margin is derived by dividing adjusted operating income by adjusted net revenue. The tax rate used in determining the income tax impact of earnings adjustments is either the jurisdictional statutory rate in effect at the time of the adjustment or the jurisdictional expected annual effective tax rate for the period, depending on the nature and timing of the adjustment.

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