The company’s share price was down EUR413 to EUR1059 in afternoon trading, wiping more than EUR12 billion off its market value. Adyen posted net revenue for the first half of EUR739.1 million, up 21% but below analyst estimates. Ebitda was down 10% from the previous year at EUR320 million. The European firm says that the increasingly important North American market saw disappointing growth, with net revenue up 23% compared to a 52% rise the previous year. Explaining this, Adyen cites strong competition in a market where it battles the likes of Stripe and PayPal. Say JPMorgan analysts quoted by Reuters: "These are disappointing results, particularly the sales miss, and the key question will be whether the company can quickly revert to mid-term trend growth." Meanwhile, the company added 551 more employees - 75% of which came in technology roles - taking its total workforce to 3,883. The spree, which added to a 757 increase in headcount in the previous six months, is at odds with most other industry players, which have been tightening their belts during the global economic downturn. Next year, the firm will take a different approach and "hire as needed". Says a shareholder letter: "We know that growth will not always be linear, and while we saw net revenue growth decelerate in H1, we did not see any substantial developments that structurally change our medium to long-term opportunity. "In addition, we anticipate our business model’s high operating leverage to kick in as we move out of this accelerated investment phase in 2024."