MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's biggest payments group Nexi (MI:NEXII) has extended its exclusive merger talks with Nordic rival Nets to Nov. 16, it said on Wednesday as it reported third-quarter earnings that beat expectations.
Nexi entered the exclusive discussions in early November over a potential $8 billion (6.06 billion pounds) deal, which would follow an agreement struck with Milan-based SIA just a month ago for a multi-billion merger to create an Italian champion.
Nexi had initially said the talks over an all-share merger with Nets, announced on Nov. 2, would last 10 days. But it extended that deadline on Wednesday, saying its board acknowledged progress had been made and was fully behind the transaction.
Reporting quarterly results, Nexi said there had been a rebound in revenues in the summer months as economic activity in Italy picked up after a nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, but that transaction volumes had slowed again in October.
The Rome government has been forced to introduce progressively tighter measures to fight a resurgence of the pandemic, including targeted lockdowns in the worst-hit areas.
Nexi, whose top investor once the SIA tie-up goes through will be Italian state lender CDP, serves around 900,000 retail outlets and manages 41.6 million payment cards in partnerships with banks.
It said it was better positioned to face the second wave of the pandemic, helped by a shift towards digital payments among consumers.
The company's third-quarter revenues rose 1% to 276 million euros. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 7% to 167 million euros.
"Nexi's ... results point to a beat across the board with revs around 2% ahead of consensus and EBITDA around 4% ahead of consensus," Jefferies said in a note.
"Company reiterates aspirational 2020 target of around 600 million euros of EBITDA."
Nexi shares were up 1% at 1506 GMT, against a 0.7% rise in Italy's blue-chip index.