Visa Posts Rise In Q4 Earnings, Agrees To Acquire Visa Europe

reported a rise in its fiscal fourth-quarter profit. The San Francisco, California-based company posted quarterly earnings of $1.51 billion, or $0.62 per share, compared to $1.07 billion, or $0.43 per share, in the year-ago period. Its revenue climbed to $3.57 billion from $3.23 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.63 per share on revenue of $3.57 billion. Service revenue rose 9 percent to $1.6 billion, while data processing revenue climbed 6 percent to $1.4 billion. International transaction revenue surged 16 percent to $1.1 billion for the quarter. Payments volume, on a constant dollar basis, rose 12 percent year-over-year to $1.3 trillion, while cross-border volume growth, on a constant dollar basis, was 5 percent. Total processed transactions increased 8 percent year-over-year to 18.4 billion in the latest quarter. At September 30, 2015, Cash, cash equivalents, and available-for-sale investment securities were $9.3 billion. For fiscal 2016, the company projects adjusted earnings per share growth in the low end of the mid-teens range and revenue growth in high single-digit to low double-digit range. Visa also reported a new $5 billion stock buyback program. The company also agreed to acquire Visa Europe Ltd. in a deal worth up to 21.2 billion euros. "Visa's fiscal fourth quarter was a strong finish to an equally strong fiscal full-year 2015 in terms of revenue and earnings per share growth in the face of a continued challenging global economic environment. The underlying growth of our franchise continued as evidenced by our strong payments volumes as well as new and renewed partnerships during the year. Most importantly, we continued to build our capabilities at the physical point-of-sale as well as in the digital space," said Charlie Scharf, Chief Executive Officer of Visa Inc. "Although fiscal 2016 reported growth rates will be negatively impacted by a strong US dollar and an uneven global economy, we are well positioned for strong success in 2017 and well beyond." Visa shares fell 1.16 percent to close at $77.60 on Friday.