The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Matt Cagwin: We didn’t give that number, but we have given each quarter the impact by quarter for the impact on revenue. But what I did say to a question a few minutes ago is we’ve used the upside that we’ve gotten from Iraq as the opportunity to go and accelerate our go-to-market strategy in retail. So the way we’ve been looking at it is, what is Iraq net of retail investments on the pricing side as well? We’ve done a bunch of stuff that Devin’s talked about with accelerating the point of sale solutions, whether it be remember me, quick, resend, refund, so forth. That number is largely on track for the midpoint of our range. We gave out Investor Day, which was down 2% to 4%. So view that as somewhere circuit around net three down.

Timothy Chiodo: Great. Thank you so much on both.

Operator: Our next question comes to us from Ramsey El Assal from Barclays. Please ask your question.

Ramsey El Assal: Hi, thank you for taking my question this evening. I wanted to ask about Iraq as well. Is the contribution from Iraq, has it flowed in mostly through retail locations, or is it also benefiting digital revenues? I’m just trying to get a better idea about how it’s benefited those two sides of your business.

Matt Cagwin: Yes, it’s 100% retail.

Ramsey El Assal: 100% retail. Okay, that’s what I thought. And then, Devin, I had a question for you about you announced some kind of key new executive hires this quarter. Can you give us an update on the organization sort of evolution of the team? Do you have what you need at this point? Are there still gaps you’re looking to fill? How is that all evolving?

Devin McGranahan: Hey, thanks for the question. As I indicated in my prepared remarks, I’m actually quite pleased with how the team has come together and now with Rodrigo taking the helm in North America, and Ben taking our Chief Technology Officer role, I have filled out the entire executive suite. So this would be the first time in my 18-plus months where we have what I would consider a complete and full executive suite. As you know, it’s a great mix of people who have been in the business, like Giovanni, who’s running Europe and Africa, and JC, who’s running the Middle East, and APAC and Rodrigo, now in North America with new folks like Karen, who I announced last time as our new Chief People Officer, and Ben, this time as our new Chief Technology Officer. So I feel quite good about the team. It’s coming together really well, and I would now say we have a full team on the field.

Ramsey El Assal: Great. Congratulations on that. Thank you.

Operator: Our next question comes to us from Bryan Keane from Deutsche Bank. Please ask your question.

Bryan Keane: Hey, guys, my question is for Matt. Just a clarification, if I do the math, the implied revenue growth in the fourth quarter, at least on the high end, is something like a negative 5% growth. Is that right? Because I guess I would have thought the number would be a little bit better given the turn in digital and the positive trajectory you’ve seen in the retail business. But there’s a lot of moving parts, so maybe you could just help us through it.

Matt Cagwin: Yes, Bryan, there are a lot of moving parts between Q3 and Q4. Q3 has had a benefit of the portfolio rebalancing I talked about in my prepared remarks. That helped us by about 100 basis points in the quarter that will not repeat itself next quarter. So the comps get harder for our other category in Q4 relative to Q3 and earlier parts of the year. We’ve also highlighted earlier in the year that we had the two lost agents. We start to lapse the first those two, but the other one, the impact will become more severe in Q4, and then, as well as the new go-to-market strategy for retail, will have a little bit of pricing pressure in Q4. That will continue in is what Devin talked about a minute ago. Transactions and revenue starting to converge over time, that will take longer for retail, and that’s having an impact. So by us accelerating that strategy, it has made a little more pressure on Q4.

Bryan Keane: Got it. And then I guess my other question is strategically, Devin, you’ve had success with the digital program. Have you thought about leveraging pricing more in digital to even grow transactions faster or maybe even more aggressive in retail to get the transaction growth going more positive?

Devin McGranahan: It’s a great question. And as we stated when we were on the stage a year ago, we were going to execute this transformation while maintaining our commitment to our shareholders, supporting our dividend, and maintaining our industry, leading 19% to 21% operating margin. So we are working within the balance of that. And I’m quite pleased with our ability to invest in any given period with the results that we’re being able to deliver now, which you’re seeing both in transactions and revenue. So it’s that equation that we balance every day, every week, every month, every quarter, and we’ll continue balancing it going forward.

Bryan Keane: Got it. Thank you.

Operator: Our next question comes to us from James Fawcett from Morgan Stanley. Please ask your question.

James Fawcett: Great, thank you very much. Can you hear me okay?

Devin McGranahan: Yes.

James Fawcett: Awesome. That’s great. Still trying to make sure I know how to use zoom correctly. Sorry about that. I’m wondering in terms of your planning assumptions, we head to 2024. A couple of things is that obviously employment has been quite strong in most regions of the world as you highlighted. Are you feeling like it’s appropriate to build in any conservatism into your planning for next year right now? And or should we expect that for the time being at least, it makes sense to better streamline and assume stability on a go forward basis. I’m asking the question because I want to follow-up with question around how you’re thinking about investment and expansion of the projects that are underway.