Visa Profit Rises 28% as Results Top Wall Street Views -- 2nd Update

By Josh Beckerman 

Visa Inc.'s earnings for the fiscal fourth quarter rose 28%, driven by growth in payments volume and processed transactions and the card company's acquisition of Visa Europe.

The results come about a week after Chief Executive Charles Scharf said he is resigning as he can no longer spend enough time in San Francisco "to do the job effectively." Mr. Scharf will be succeeded by Alfred Kelly, a member of Visa's board and a former president at American Express Co.

Like rival MasterCard Inc., Visa is a payment network that processes credit-card and debit-card transactions, making a percentage off each. The company purchased its European operations in June, a deal initially valued at up to 21.2 billion euros ($23.4 billion) that was designed to bring its global operations under one roof.

Visa's earnings for the quarter ended Sept. 30 climbed to $1.93 billion, or 79 cents a Class A share, up from $1.51 billion, or 62 cents Class A share, a year earlier. Earnings excluding items were 78 cents a share.

Operating revenue rose to $4.26 billion from $3.57 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of 73 cents a share on revenue of $4.23 billion.

Payments volume for the quarter ended Sept. 30 increased 47% on a constant-dollar basis to $1.9 trillion, buoyed by the purchase of Visa Europe.

Total processed transactions rose 41% to 25.9 billion.

For the recently started business year, Visa guided for earnings, excluding one-time items, to increase in the mid-teens on a percentage basis, with revenue rising 16% to 18%. Analysts were looking for a 19% increase in earnings to $3.32 a share and 20% rise in revenue to $18 billion.

"As we enter fiscal 2017, we are positioned well as revenue headwinds will continue to ease, we will continue to see the benefits from Visa Europe in our results, and our strong client franchise continues to grow, " Mr. Scharf said in prepared remarks.

Visa, which faces intense competition from new financial-technology companies, has been active with its own digital efforts. Last week it introduced a bitcoin-style network called Visa B2B Connect. In July it struck a partnership with PayPal Holdings Inc., and it is also an investor in mobile-payments startup Square Inc.

In after-hours trading, Visa shares fell 1.2% to $82.20.

Write to Josh Beckerman at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 24, 2016 17:20 ET (21:20 GMT)

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