HARRISON (dpa-AFX) - Payment card processor Mastercard, Inc. (MA) reported a 6 percent decline in profit for the first quarter from last year, as strong revenue growth was more than offset by higher expenses and the non-recurrence of a discrete tax credit that occurred last year. However, both revenue and earnings per share for the quarter beat analysts' estimates.
The Purchase, New York-based world's second-largest payment network reported net income for the first quarter of $959 million or $0.86 per share, down from $1.02 billion or $0.89 per share in the prior-year quarter.
The latest quarter's result were unfavorably impacted by $0.08 per share due to the non-recurrence of a discrete tax credit and balance sheet remeasurement related to Venezuela in last year's first quarter.
On average, 34 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.85 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.
Net revenues for the quarter rose 10 percent to $2.45 billion from $2.23 billion in the same quarter last year and beat analysts' consensus estimate of $2.38 billion. Adjusted for currency, net revenue increased 14 percent.
The company attributed the revenue growth to a 13 percent rise in gross dollar volume, on a local currency basis, to $1.1 trillion, a 12 percent rise in cross-border volumes and a 14 percent increase in processed transactions to 12.6 billion.
Global purchase volumes also grew 12 percent on a local currency basis from last year to $838 billion. As of the end of the quarter, MasterCard said its customers had issued 2.3 billion MasterCard and Maestro-branded cards.
Total operating expenses for the quarter increased 25 percent, or 29 percent on a currency-neutral basis, to $1.1 billion.
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