BERLIN, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Turnover of Wirecard increased year-on-year by 36.7 percent to 1.2 billion euros (1.3 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of 2019 (H1), the German payment service provider announced on Wednesday.
Wirecard's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose by 35.8 percent to 342.1 million euros in H1, the Munich-based company announced.
"In the first half year our growth accelerated, hence we are looking extremely optimistic towards the second half of 2019," said Markus Braun, chief executive officer (CEO) of Wirecard.
Net profits of the German payment service provider increased even stronger by more than 50 percent compared to the first half of 2018 and stood at 237.5 million euros, corresponding to earnings per share of 1.92 euros.
Following the strong growth in the first half of 2019, Wirecard raised its business guidance for the second half of the year and is expecting operational profits (EBITDA) to amount to between 765 million euros and 815 million euros.
The increased guidance for 2019 was based, among other things, on "the continued dynamic growth of the global e-commerce market" as well as the trend towards digitization in stationary retailing, according to Wirecard.
Wirecard did not provide any new information about the dispute with the British newspaper Financial Times (FT) in its half year report.
In June, Wirecard announced to have obtained "irrefutable evidence of collaboration between Financial Times employees and short sellers".
The German payment provider demanded that the FT should "refrain from any publication" that could lead to market manipulation or insider trading in connection with Wirecard's shares.
Following critical Financial Times reports about alleged fraud and money laundering at Wirecard's office in Singapore in January, shares of the German payment came under enormous pressure and fell significantly.
