Visa profit jumps on higher spending

Revenue climbed 27% to $6.13bn, beating the $5.86bn average of analyst estimates

A demonstration of a new payment method currently working at a Costa Coffee which Visa has introduced to the market in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Monday, Oct. 25, 2010. Photo: Charles Crowell for The NAtional
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Visa reported a 9 per cent increase in its fiscal third-quarter profit on higher payment volumes.

Net profit increased to $2.58 billion in the three month period that ended on June 30. Revenue rose 27 per cent on an annual basis to $6.13bn, the company said in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Revenue results beat the average $5.86bn estimate of analysts polled by Bloomberg.

The company recorded a total of 42.6 billion transactions, a 39 per cent increase over the prior year, led by domestic transactions.

Visa delivered another strong quarter as many key economies are well into a reopening-driven recovery
Alfred Kelly, chairman and chief executive of Visa

Fiscal third quarter service revenues increased 17 per cent to $2.8bn, while the data processing revenue rose 32 per cent over the prior year to $3.3bn.

"Visa delivered another strong quarter as many key economies are well into a reopening-driven recovery,” said Alfred Kelly, chairman and chief executive of Visa.

“This was best demonstrated by credit and face-to-face spending bouncing back while debit and e-commerce volumes remained robust from accelerated cash digitisation sparked by the pandemic."

The company also saw an increase in cryptocurrency purchases which boosted cross border spending, chief financial officer Vasant Prabhu told Bloomberg.

“Cross-border travel spending improved as vaccination rates rose and more borders opened," Mr Kelly said. "Visa grew net revenues … while continuing to make investments in strategies that will drive future growth."

Cash, cash equivalents and investment securities were $20.4bn at the end of the April-June period.

Visa did not issue an earnings guidance because of the pandemic.

“Given the continuing impact of Covid-19 and the significant uncertainty in the global economy, it is difficult to reasonably estimate the company's annual results," it said.

"Therefore we are not providing a fiscal full-year 2021 outlook at this time."

The company also returned nearly $2.9bn of capital to shareholders in share repurchases and dividends during the quarter.

Visa is trying to capitalise on the increasing interest of customers towards online buying and digital payments, which was fuelled by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Last month, it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Tink, a European open banking platform.

Tink enables financial institutions, FinTechs and merchants to build tailored financial management tools, products and services for European consumers and businesses based on their financial data.

Last week, it inked a pact to acquire Currencycloud, a global platform that enables banks and FinTechs to provide innovative foreign exchange solutions for cross-border payments.

In the second quarter, Visa repurchased 9.5 million shares of class A common stock at an average price of $227.8 a share for $2.2bn.

On July 23, the board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.30 a share to all holders of record as of August 13.

Updated: July 29, 2021, 5:43 PM