Payment processor Adyen loses 19 billion euros in market capitalization | Economy

Higher wage costs, higher interest rates and strong inflation put pressure on growth and resulted in lower profits than analysts had expected. The Adyen share price also pulled the AEX index with the 25 most important companies on the Amsterdam stock exchange down hard. The indicator closed 2.5 percent lower at 737.63 points.

Since the IPO of Adyen, which handles payments for companies such as McDonald’s and H&M, the stock quickly increased in value until reaching a peak in November 2021. At the time, more than 2800 euros had to be paid for one share, roughly seven times the price for which the company went public. Since then, the price has fallen steadily, partly due to the higher interest rates that make relatively expensive tech stocks a less attractive investment. But the results announced on Thursday led to the largest price drop ever for Adyen, with trading in the share halted a few times. At the closing bell, a share was still worth 898.40 euros.

A number of analysts called the results, which were particularly disappointing in North America, worse than expected. And it is precisely with former ‘darlings’ on the stock market that the blow can hit hard, explained investment expert Cees Smit of Today’s Group. The higher costs are not a very big surprise either. At the beginning of this year, Adyen announced that it would be recruiting considerably more staff, with which it took a different course than tech groups such as Amazon, Google and Facebook, which proceeded to mass layoffs. The share is still worth much more than the 400 euros at the IPO five years ago.

Other companies that came up with results were also among the losers. Construction company BAM (minus 1.8 percent) reported lower turnover and profit and spoke of a difficult housing market. Insurer Aegon lost almost 5 percent after the presentation of the half-year figures. The insurer suffered a net loss in the first six months of the year.

The MidKap closed 1.1 percent lower at 878.81 points. The stock exchanges in Frankfurt, Paris and London lost up to 0.9 percent. The euro was worth $1.0890 against $1.0916 the day before. A barrel of US oil 1.7 percent more at $ 80.72. Brent oil became 1.3 percent more expensive at USD 84.57 per barrel.